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'^"z/ iy <r 



DICTIONARY 

OF 



NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY 



Edward Erskine 



DICTIONARY 



OF 



NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY 



EDITED BY 



LESLIE STEPHEN 



VOL. XVII. 



Edward Erskine 



MACMILLAN AND CO. 

LONDON : SMITH, ELDER, & CO. 

1889 




/f/l^Cc 






LIST OF WEITEES 



IN THE SEVENTEENTH VOLUME. 



J. G. A. . . J. G. Aloeb 

A.m J . XX. • « 



X • At A» . . 

G. F. R. B. 

M. m <XJ« • • « • 

W. B 

G. T. B. . . 

A. \J, iJt • • 

B. H. B. . . 
W. G. B. . . 



Sir Alexander John Arbuthnot, 

T. A. Archer. 

G. F. Russell Barker. 

Thomas Baynb. 

The Rev. William Benham, B.D., 
F.S.A. 

G. T. Bettany. ^ 

A. C. Bickley. 

The Rev. B. H. Blackeu. 

The Ret. Professor Blaikie, 
D.D. 



G. 0. B. . . G. C. BoASB. 

G. S. B. . . G. S. BouLOEK. 

A. H. B. . . A. H. Bullen. 

H. M. C. . . H. Manners Chichester. 

M. C-Y. . . . Miller Christy. 

T. C Thompson Cooper, F.S.A. 

W. P. C. . . W. P. Courtney. 

L. C LlONBL CUST. 

J. D. . . . James Dixon, M.D. 

J. W. JK. . . The Rev. J. W. Ebsworth, F.S.A. 

F. E Francis Espinasse. 

L. F Louis Faoan. 

J. G James Gaironeb. 

S. R. G. . . S. R. Gardiner, LL.D. 
R. G Richard Garnett, LL.D. 



G. G 

A. G 

J. A. H. . . 

R. II 

W. J. n. . . 
T. f. h. . . 

J. H. 



• • « 



^. H-T. . . . 
\ ^ 
W. H. . . . 

B. D. J. . . 

A.J, .... 
Iv. «l . J . . . . 

H. G. K. . . 

C. K 

J. K 

J. K., L. . . 
S. L. L. . . 
W. B. L. . . 
H. R. L. . . 
J. A. F. M. 
L. M. M. . . 

N. M 

T O 

N. D. F. P. 
R. L. P. . . 

O. Ij.'X . ... 

J. M. R. . . 



Gordon Goodwin. 

The Rey. Alexander Gordon. 

J. A. Hamilton. 

Robert Harrisi^n. 

Prof'essor W. Jeuomk Harrison. 

T. F. Henderson. 

Miss Jennett Humphreys. 

The lath Robert Hunt, F.R.S. 

The Rev. William Hunt. 

B. D. Jackson. 

The Rev. Augustus Jessopp, D.D. 

The Rev. R. Jbnkin Jones. 

H. G. Keene, CLE. 

Charles Kent. 

Joseph Knioht. 

Professor J. K. Lauohton. 

S. L. Lee. 

The Rev. W. B. Lowther. 

The Rev. H. R. Luard, D.D. 

J. A. Fuller Maitland. 

Miss Middleton. 

Norman Moore, M.D. 

The Rev. Thomas Olden. 

N. D F. Pearcb. 

R. L. Poole. 

Stanley Lane-Poole. 

J. M. Rioo. 



VI 



List of Writers. 



C. J. R.. . . The Rev. C. J. Rouikson. 

L. C. S. . . Lloyd C. Sanders. 

J. M. S. . . J. M. Scott. 

O. B. S. . . G. Barnett Smith. 

L. S Leslie Stephen. 

H. M. S. . . H. Mouse Stephens. 
C. W. S. . . C. W. Sutton. 
H. R. T. . . H. R. Tedder. 



T. F. T. . . PROt-EssoR T. F. Toirr. 

R. H. V. . . LiEUT.-CoLOKEL Vetch, R.E. 

A. V^ Alsagrr V^ian. 

A. W. W.. . Pr.>fessor a. W. Ward, LL.D. 
M. G. W.. . The Rev. M. G. Watkihs. 
F. W-t. . . Francis Watt. 
C. W-u. . . Charles Welch. 
W. W. . . . Warwick Wroth. 



DICTIONARY 



OF 



NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY 



Edward 



Edward 



EDWARD, EADWARD, or EAD- 
WEARD, caUed the Elder (rf. 924), kmjr of 
the Angles and Saxons, the elder son of King 
.^Elfred and Ealhswyth, was brought ud most 
carefully at his father's court withyElftnryth, 
his sister, who was next above him in age ; 
they were both beloved by all, and were edu- 
cated as became their rank, learning psalms 
and English poeti^ and reading English books 
( AssER, p. 485) . Eadward distinguished him- 
self in his father's later wars with the Danes, 
and the taking of the Danish camp on the 
Colne and the victory at Buttington in 894 
are attributed to him (iETHELWEARD,p.518). 
Although he had no special part of the king- 
dom assigned to him, he bore the title of king 
in 898, probably as his father's assistant 
(Kemble, Cudex DipL 324). He was, we are 
told, as good a soldier as his father, but not 
80 good a scholar (Flor. Wig.) On Alfred's 
death, which took place on 28 Oct. 901, he 
was chosen by the * witan' to succeed to the 
kingdom (iETHELWEARD, p. 519), and was 
crowned on the Whitsunday following. His 
succession was disputed by one of his cousins, 
the ffitheling ^thelwald, a son of ^thelred, 
the fourth son of -^thelwulf, who seized on 
two of the king's vills, Wimborne in Dorset- 
shire andTwyimam (Christ Church) in Hamp- 
shire. The king led an army against him and 
encamped at mdbury, near Wimborne, but 
i£thelwald shut himself up in the town with 
his men and declared that he would * either 
live there or lie there' (A.'S, Chron.) Never- 
theless he escaped by night, and went to the 
Danes in Nortnumbria, who received him as 
kinff. Eadward entered Wimborne and sent 
the lady with whom ^thelwald lived back 
to her nunnery, for she had taken the veil 
before she joined her lover. For two or 
three years after this Eadward seems to have 
leigned in peace, save that there was some 

TOL. xvn. 



fighting between the Kentishmen and the 
Danes. Meanwhile -^thelwald was prepar- 
ing to attack the kingdom, and in 904 he 
came to Essex from ' over sea ' with a fleet 
that he had purchased, received the submis- 
sion of the people, and obtained more ships 
from them. With these he sailed the next 
year to East Anglia and persuaded the Danes 
to join him in an invasion of Mercia. They 
overran the country, and even entered Wessex, 
crossing the Thames at Cricklade in Wilt- 
shire, and then ravaged as far as Bredon in 
Worcestershire. Eadward retaliated by laying 
waste the western districts of East Anglia, 
and then ordered his army to return. The 
Kentishmen refused to obey the order, and 
waited to give battle to the Danes. A fierce 
conflict took place, and the Danes kept the 
battle-ground, but they lost more men than 
the English, and among the slain was the 
aetheling^thelwald. His death put an end 
to the war. The next year (906) the peace 
which Alfred had made with Guthrum- 
^thelstan was renewed at Eadward's dicta- 
tion at Ittingford, and he and the Danish 
under-king of East Anglia, Quthrum Eoh« 
ricsson, joined in puttinc^ out laws which| 
though binding both on tne English and the 
Danes, expressly recognised and confirmed 
the differences between the usages of the two 
peoples, though, indeed, thes^dinerences were 
very superficial (Thorpe, AndentLawt, p.71). 
The death of ^thelwald delivered Ead- 
ward from a dangerous rival, and enabled him, 
as soon as opportunity offered, to enter on 
his great worK, the widening and strengthen- 
ing of his immediate kingdom and tne re- 
duction of princes who reigned beyond its 
borders to a condition of dependence. He 
styled himself in his charters ' Angul-Saxo- 
num rex,' treating the two races over which 
he reigned as one people. The treaty of 878 

B 



Edward 



Edward 



had left his house the kingship of the western 
half of the Mercian Angles and of the Saxons 
of the fifjuth ; his father had ruled over both 
aa separate peoples; he, though as yet there 
was little ii any fusion between them, seems 
to have marked by this change in the royal 
style his intention to treat them as one 
(OBEEy, Conquest of Englandy p. 192). At 
the same time an important political distinc- 
tion existed between them, for the Mercians 
were still governed by their own ealdorman, 
descended probably from the line of ancient 
Mercian kings. This, however, proved to be 
a source of strength rather than of weakness, 
for the ealdorman .''Kthelred had married the 
king's pister yKthelflsed [see Ethelfleda], 
and Eadward owed much of the prosperity of 
his reign to this marriage, and much too to the 
fact that no son was bom of it to carry on the 
old line of separate, though now dependent, 
rulers. 

The first measure of defence against Danish 
attacks was taken by yKthelred and his wife, 
who in 907 * restored,' that is fortified and 
colonised, Chester, and thus gained a port that 
might be used by ships employed in keeping 
off invasion by the Irish Ostmen, and esta- 
blished a stronghold commanding the Dee. 
In 910 Eadward was again at war with the 
Danes ; they seem to have broken the peace, 
and in return an army of West-Saxons and 
Mercians ravaged Northumbria for the space 
of forty (lays. A battle was fought on Aug. 
at.Tett^nhall in Stafford8hire,where the Danes 
were defeat ♦ id . Then Eadward went into Kent 
to gather his fleet together, for the Northmen 
infested the Channel, and he bade a hundred 
ships and their crews meet him there, so well 
had his father's work in naval organisation 
prospered. While he was in Kent in 911 the 
Northmen, reckoning that he had no other 
force at his disposal beyond that in his ships 
fj^.-iS. Chron.), again broke the peace, and,re- 
tusing to listen to the terms offered them by 
the king and the * witan,' swept over the whole 
. of Mercia to the Avon, and there embarked, 
no doubt in ships from Ireland, and did some 
damage to Wessex as they sailed on the Se- 
vern (/Ethelweard, p. 519). They were 
stoutly resisted by the levy of those parts, 
and sustained much loss. Eadward's army, 
composed of both West-Saxons and Mercians, 
defeated them at Wodensfield in Staffordshire, 
with the loss of their two kings, Halfdanand 
Ecwils, and many of their principal men. In 
the course of this or of the next yeor the eal- 
dorman yEthelred died, and Eadward gave the 
ealdormanship of Mercia to his widow /Ethel- 
flied. At the same time he annexed London 
and Oxford, * with all the lands which be- 
longed thereto * {A.^S. Chron.), he detached 



them from the Mercian ealdormanry, and de- 
finitely united them to the West-Saxon land« 
After the accession of ^thelfiaed as sole ruler, 
with the title of the Lady of the Mercians, 
she carried on with extraordinary vigour the 
work, already begun during her husband's life, 
of guarding her dominions from attack by 
building ' burhs ' or fortified settlements at 
different points of strategic importance, such 
as Tamworth and Stafford [see under £th£I<- 
FLEDA J. Meanwhile Eadward pursued a simi- 
lar policy in the south-east. No longer waiting 
for the Danes to attack him, he advanced his 
border by building two burhs at Hertford to 
hold the passage of the Lea, and then marched 
into Essex and encamped at Maldon, while 
his men fortified Witham on the Blackwater. 
lie thus added a good portion of Essex to 
his dominions, and * much folk submitted to 
him that were before under the power of the 
Danish men' (ib.) Then, perhaps, followed 
a period of rest as far as Eadward and the 
W est-Saxons were concerned, though -^thel- 
fliod still went on with her work, securing 
the Mercian border against the Danes and 
the Welsh. In 915 Eadward was suddenly 
called on to defend his land from foreign in- 
vasion, for a viking fleet from Brittany under 
two jarls sailed into the Severn, attacked the 
Welsh, and took the Bishop of Llandaff pri- 
soner. Eadward ransomed the bishop, and 
sent a force to guard the coast of Somerset. 
The Northmen landed, and were defeated with 
great loss by the levies of Gloucester and 
Hereford ; they then made attempts to land 
at Watchet and Porlock in Somerset, but 
were beaten off. Some landed on one of the 
Holms in the Bristol Channel, and many of 
them died of hunger on the island. Finally 
the remainder of them sailed away to Ire- 
land. Later in the year Eadward began to 
advance his border in a new direction, and 
attacked the Danish settlements on the Ouse ; 
he took Buckingham after a siege of four 
weeks, and raised fortifications there. Then 
the jarl Thurcytel, who held Bedford, and 
all the chief men there, and many of those 
who belonged to the settlement of North- 
ampton, submitted to him. 

From the submission of Thurcytel, which 
should probably be placed under 915 (A,-S. 
CAron., Mercian ; Florence; under 918, ac- 
cording to A.-S. Ckron.f Winton, followed by 
Green), the chronology of the reign is very 
confused. In this attempt to deal with it, as 
far as seems necessary for the present purpose, 
the Mercian has for obvious reasons been 
preferred to the Winchester version of the 
'Chronicle,' considerable weight has been 
given to Florence of Worcester, and the deaths 
of iEthelflsd in918 and Eadward in 924 have 



Edward 



Edward 



been assumed as settled. After receiving the 
submission of Thurcvtel and his 'holds/ Ead- 
ward went to Bedford early in November, 
stayed there a month, and fortified it with 
a * burh ' on the southern side of the river. 
After a while Thurcytel and his Danes, find- 
ing that England was no place for them 
under such a King, obtained his leave to take 
ship and depart to 'Frankland.' Eadward 
restored Maldon and put a garrison there, 
perhaps in 917 {A,'S. Chron., Winton, 920 ; 
Florence, 918), and the next year advanced 
to Towcester, built a * burh' there, and ordered 
the fortification of Wigmore in Herefordshire. 
Then a vigorous effort was made by the Danes 
of Mercia and East Anglia to recover the 
ground thev had lost. They besieged Tow- 
cester, Bedford, and Wigmore, but in each 
case were beaten off. A great host, partly 
from Huntingdon and partly from East 
Anglia, raised a * work * at Tempsford as a 
point of attack on the English line of the Ouse, 
leaving Huntingdon deserted. This army was 
defeated, with the loss of the Danish king of 
East Anglia and many others, and an attack 
made on Maldon by theEast Angles, in alliance 
with a viking fleet, was also foiled. Finally 
Eadward compelled the jarl Thurferth and 
the Danes of Northampton * to seek him for 
father and lord,' and fortified Huntingdon 
and Colchester. The year was evidently a 
critical one ; the struggle ended in the com- 
plete victory of the English king, who re- 
ceived the submission of the Danes of East 
Anglia, Essex, and Cambridge. 

Meanwhile the Lady of the Mercians had, 
after some trouble, compelled the Welsh to 
keep the peace, and had then turned against 
the Danes of the Five Boroughs, subduing 
Derby and Leicester. She lived to hear that 
the people of York had submitted to her, and 
then died at Tamworth on 12 June 918 [on 
this date see under Ethelfleda]. Her 
vigorous policy had done much to forward 
the success of her brother. Between them 
they had succeeded in setting up a line of 
strongly fortified places which guarded all 
the approaches from the north from the 
Blackwater to the Lea, from the Lea to the 
Ouse, and from the Ouse to the Dee and the 
Mersey. Eadward was completing the re- 
duction of the Fen coimtry by the fortifica- 
tion of Stamford, when he heard of her death. 
He reduced Nottingham, another of the Five 
Boroughs, and caused it to be fortified afresh 
and colonised partly by Englishmen and partly 
by Danes. This brought the reconquest of the 
Mercian Danelaw to a triumphant close, and 
Eadward now took a step bv which the people 
of English Mercia, as well as of the newly 
eonqueved district^ were brought into im- 



mediate dependence on the English king, 
-^thelflflod^s daughter ^If wyn was, it is said, 
sought in marriage by Sihtric, the Danish king 
of York (Cakadoc, p. 47). This marriage 
would have* given all the dominions that 
iEthelflsed had acquired, and all the vast in- 
fluence which she exercised, into the hands 
of the Danes. Eadward therefore would not 
allow -^Ifwyn to succeed to her mother's 
power, and in 919 carried her away into Wes- 
sex. The notice of this measure given by 
Henry of Huntingdon probably preserves the 
feelings of anger and regret with which the 
Mercians saw the extinction of the remains of 
their separate political existence. The ancient 
Mercian realm was now fully incorporated 
with Wessex, and all the people in the Mercian 
land, Danes as well as English, submitted to 
Eadward. A most important step was thus 
accomplished in the union of the kingdom. 

The death of -^thelflted appears to have 
roused the Danes to fresh activity ; Sihtric 
made a raid into Cheshire (Symeon, an. 920), 
and a body of Norwegians from Ireland, who 
had perhaps been aMowed by yEthelflied to 
colonise the country round Chester, laid siege 
to, and possibly took, the town Q urbem Le- 
gionum,* Geata Regumy § 1 33. Mr. Green ap- 
pears to take this as Leicester, and to believe 
that the passage refers to the raid of the 
Danes from Northampton and Leicester on 
Towcester, placed by the Winchester chro- 
nicler under 921, and by Florence, followed 
in the text, under 918. The help that the 
pagans received from the Welsh makes it 
almost certain that William of Malmesbury 
records a war at Chester, and possibly the 
siege that in the 'Fra^ent' of MacFirbisigh 
is assigned to the period of the last illness of 
the Mercian ealdorman -^]thelred; see under 
Ethelflbda). Eadward recovered the city, 
and received the submission of the Welsh, 
' for the kings of the North Welsh and all the 
North Welsh race sought him for lord.' He 
now turned to a fresh enterprise ; he desired to 
close the road from Northumbria into Middle 
England that gave Manchester its earliest im- 
portance, as well as to prepare for an attack 
on York, where a certain Kagnar had been 
received as king, Accordingly he fortified 
and colonised Thelwall, and sent an army to 
take Manchester in Northumbria, to renew its 
walls and to man them. This completed the 
line of fortresses which began with Chester, 
.and he next set about connecting it with the 
strong places he had gained in the district 
of the Five Boroughs, for he strengthened 
Nottingham and built a * burh ' at Bakewell 
in Peakland, which commanded the Derwent 
standing about midway between Manchester 
and Derby. After recording how he placed 

b2 



Edward 



Edward 



a garrison in Bakewell, the Winchester 
chronicler adds : ' And him there chose to 
father and to lord the Scot king and all the 
Scot people, and Regnald, and Eadulf s son, 
and all that dwelt in Northumbrian whether 
Englishmen, or Danish, or Northmen, or 
other, and eke the king of the Strathclyde 
Welsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh' (an. 
924, A.'S. Chron.f Winton ; but this is cer- 
tainly too late, and 921 seems a better date; 
comp. Flob. Wig.) In these words the most 
brilliant writer on the reign finds evidence of 
a forward march of the kmg, of a formidable 
northern league formed to arrest his progress, 
of the submission of the allies, and of a visit to 
the English camp, probably at Dore, in which 

* the motley company of allies 'owned Ead ward 
as their lord (Conquest of England^ pp. 210, 
217). While there is nothmg improbable in all 
this, the picture is without historical founda- 
tion. It is best not to go beyond what is writ- 
ten, especially as there is some ground for be- 
lieving that the * entry cannot be contempo- 
rary *(i&.) We may, however, safely accept it as 
substantially correct. Its precise meaning has 
been strenuously debated, for it was used by 
Edward I as the earliest precedent on which 
he based his claim to the allegiance of the 
Scottish crown (IIeminobiirqh, ii. 198). Dr. 
Freeman attaches extreme importance to it as 
conveying the result, in the case of Scotland, 
of * a solemn national act,* from which may 
be dated the * permanent superiority * of the 
English crown {Norman Conquest /i, 60, 128, 
610). On the other hand, it is slighted by 
Robertson {Scotland under her Early Kings, 
ii. 384 sq.) It must clearly be interpreted 
by the terms used of other less important 
submissions. W^hen the kings made their 
submission they entered into exactly the 
same relationship to the English king as 
that which had been entered into by the 
jarlThurferth and his army when they sought 
Ead ward * for their lord and protector.' They 
found the English king too strong for them, 
and rather than fight him they * commended* 
themselves to him, and entered into his 

* peace.' The tie thus created was personal, 
and was analogous to that which existed 
between the lord and his comitatus. It 
marked the preponderating power of Ead- 
ward,but in itself it should perhaps scarcely 
be held as more than ' an episode in the 
struggle for supremacy in the north' (Green). 
Eadward thus succeeded in carrying the 
bounds of his immediate kingdom as far 
north as the Humber, and in addition to 
this was owned by all other kings and their 
peoples in the island as their superior. 

In the midst of his wars he found time for 
come important matters of civil and ecclesiasti- 



cal administration. Two civil developments 
of this period were closely connected with his 
wars. The conquest of the Danelaw and the 
extinction of the Mercian ealdormanry appear 
to have led to the extension of the West-Saxon 
system of shire-division to Mercia. While it 
is not probable that this system was carried 
out at all generally even in Mercia 'till after 
Eadward's death, the beginning of it may at 
least be traced to his reign, and appears in 
the annexation of London and Oxford with 
their subject lands Middlesex and Oxford- 
shire. Another change, the increase of the 
personal dignity of the king and the accept- 
ance of a new idea of the duty of the sub- 
ject, is also connected with conquest. The 
conouered Danes still remained outside the 
En^ish people, they had no share in the 
old relationship between the race and the 
king, they made their submission to the king 
personally, and placed themselves imder his 
personal protection. Thus the king's dig- 
nity was increased, and a new tie, that of 
personal loyalty, first to be observed in the 
laws of Alfred, was strengthened as regards 
all his people. Accordingly, at a witenage- 
mot held at Exeter, Eadward proposed that 
all 'should be in that fellowship that he 
was, and love that which he loved, and shun 
that which he shunned, both on sea and 
land.' The loyalty due from the dwellers in 
the Danelaw was demanded of all alike. The 
idea of the public peace was gradually giving 
place to that of the king's peace. Other 
laws of Eadward concern the protection of 
the buyer, the administration of justice, and 
the like. In these, too, there may be dis- 
cerned the increase of the royal pre-emi- 
nence. The law-breaker is for the first time 
said to incur the guilt of * oferhymes ' to- 
wards the king ; in breaking the law he had 
shown 'contempt' of the royal authority 
(Thorpe, Ancient LawSf pp. 68-76 ; Stubbs, 
Constitutional History, i. 175, 183). In ec- 
clesiastical afiairs Eadward seems to have 
been guided by his father's advisers. He 
kept Grimbold with him and, at his instance 
it is said, completed the 'New Minster,' -^-El- 
fred's foundation at Winchester, and endowed 
it largely {Liber de Hyda, 111 ; Ann, Winton, 
10). Asser appears to have resided at his 
court (Kemble, Codex Dipl. 335, 337), and 
he evidently acted cordially with Archbishop 
Plegmund. The increase he made in the 
episcopate in southern England is connected 
with a story told by William of Malmesbury, 
who says (Gesta Regum, ii. 129) that in 904 
the West-Saxon bishoprics had lain vacant for 
seven years, and that Pope Formosus wrote 
threatening Eadward and his people with 
excommunication for their neglect, that the 



Edward S Edward 

m 

king then held a synod over which Plepnund to Hugh the Great, count of Paris ; -^Ifgifu, 

presided, that the two West-Saxon dioceses called in France Adela, married about 936 

were divided into five, and that Plegmund to Eblus, son of the count of Aouitaine 

consecrated seven new bishops in one day. (Richakd. Pict., Bofqubt, ix. 21) ; Eadgyth 

As it stands this story must be rejected, for or Edith, married in 930 to Otto, afterwards 

Formosus died in 896. Still it is true that emperor, and died on 26 Jan. 947, after her 

in 909 the sees of Winchester, Sherborne, husband became king, but before he became 

and South-Saxon Selsey were all vacant, and emperor, deeply regretted by all the Saxon 

that Eadward and Plegmund separated Wilt- people ( Widukind, i. 37, ii. 41 ). Eadward*8 

shire and Berkshire from the see of Win- second wife (or third, if Ecgwyn is reckoned) 

Chester and formed them into the diocese of was Eadgifu, by whom he had Eadmund and 

Kamsbur^, and made Somerset and Devon- Eadred, who both came to the throne, and 

shire, which lay in the bishopric of Sherborne, two daughters, Eadburh or Edbur^a, a nun 

two separate dioceses, with their sees at Wells at Winchester, of whose precocious piety Wil- 

and Crediton. Five West-Saxon bishops and liam of Malmesbury tells a story ( Gesta Ite- 

two bishops for Selsey and Dorchester were ffum, ii. 217), and Eadgifu, married to Lewis, 

therefore consecrated by Plegmund, possibly king of Aries or Provence. Besides these, 

at the same time {Anglia Sacra^ i. 664 ; Reg, he is said to have had a son called Gregory, 

Sac. Anglic, 13). who went to Rome, became a monk, and 

The ' Unconquered King,* as Florence of afterwards abbot of Einsiedlen. 

Worcester calls him, di«i at Famdon in [Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub ann. ; Florence of 

Northamptonshire in 924, in the twenty- Worcester, sub ann. (Engl. Hist. Soc.) ; William 

fourth year of his reign (A.-S. Chron., Wor- of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, §§ 112, 124-6, 

ccster; Florence; Syxeov; 92b A.-S.Chron.y 129, 131, 139 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Gesta Ponti- 

Winton). As ^thelstan calls 929 the sixth ficum, 1 77, 395 (Rolls Ser.) ; Henry of Huntingr 

vear of his reign (Kemble, Codex Dipl 347, ^on, 742, Mon. Hist. Brit. ; Symeon of Durham, 

"^48), it is obvious that Eadward must have 6^6, Mon. Hist. Brit.; ^thelweard, 619, Mon. 

died in 924, and there are some reasons for ?'*'^*P"^-v.^^^®^^!.%^S' ^i^'^,^2(RollsSer.); 

believing that he died in the August of that 4"°f ^^f Linton 10 (^oUs Ser. ) ; Thorpe s An- 

^<^.*/Xf^..«.*^7.^/' n..«.w»^ \^^A i»,r:„*,\ cient Laws and Institutes, 68-75; Kemble s 

^fiT{Memofi^UofDunstan,i^^^ Codex Dipl. ii. 138-49; Thre^ Irish Fragments by 

He was buriedm the* New Minster of Wm- D^bhaltach MacFirbisigh, ed. O'Donovan (Irish 

Chester. By Ecgwyn, a lady of high rank Archseol. and Celtic Soc.) ; Widukind's Res Gesta 

(Flor. Wig.), or, according to later and un- Saxonicae, i. 37, ii. 41, Pertz ; Caradoc's Princes 

trustworthy tradition, a shepherd s daughter of Wales, 47 ; Recueil des Historiens, Bouquet, 

{Gesta Begum, ii. 131, 139 ; Liber de Hyda, ix. 21 ; Stubbs's Constitutional Hist. i. 176, 183, 

111), who seems to have been his concubine, and Registnim Sacrum Anglic. 13; Freeman's 

he had his eldest son ^thelstan, who sue- Norman Conquest, i. 58-61, 610; Robertson's 

ceededhim,po8sibly asonnamediElfred, not Scotland under her Early Kings, ii. 384 pq.; 

the rebel setheling of the next reign, and a Green's Conquest of England, 18U-215— the best 

daughter Eadgyth, who in the year of her account we have of the wars of Eadward and 

father's death was given m marriage by her ^^"^^^^.i Lappenberg's Anglo-Saxon Kings 

brother to Sihtric, the Danish king of North- (Thorpe), ii. 85 sq.] W. H. 

umbria. By 901 he was married to ^Iflaed, EDWARD or EADWARD the Mab- 

daughter of -^thelhelm, one of his thegns, tyr (963 P-978), king of the English, the 

and Ealhfiwith (Kehble, Codex Dipl. 333). eldest son of Eadgar, was the child of ^thel- 

She bore him iElfweard, who is saidf to have flaed, and was born probably in 903 [see 

been learned, and who died sixteen days after under EadgabJ. He was brought up as his 

his father, and probably Eadwine, droi^Tied father's heir, his education was entrusted to 

at sea in 933 (A.-S. Chron. sub an.), pos- Sideman, bishop of Crediton, who instructed 

»ibly by order of Mis brother (Symeon, Mon. him in the scriptures, and he grew a stout 

Bist. Brit. p. 686 ; Gesta Begum, § 139), and hardy lad ( Vita S. Oswaldi, p. 449). He 

though the story, especially in its later and was about twelve years old when his father 

fuller form, is open to doubt (Freeman, Hist, died in 976. The circumstances of his elec- 

Essays, i. 10-16), and six daughters: yfethel- tion to the throne will be found in the article 

flsd, a nun perhaps at Wilton ( Gesta Begum, on Dunstan. It should be added that the 

Hi. 126^ or at Ilumsey (Liber de Hyda, 112); author of the * Life of St. Oswald,' writing 

Eadgifuy married in 919 by her father to before 1005, says that the nobles who opposed 

Charles the Simple, and after his death to his election were moved to do so by his hot 

Herbert, count of Troyes, in 951 (Acta SS. temper, for the boy used not only to abuse 

JBoUand. Mar. xii. 760) ; ^thelhild, a nun but to beat his attendants. While it is likely 

ftl Wilton ; Eadhild, married by her brother enough that he was imperious and quick-tem- 



Edward t 

Eed, the faction that, at the ingtiKation of 
dgar'B widow, jii^lfthrylh, upheld toe claim 
made on behalf of her sou was of course 
swa^vd brother eonsiderationa. A notice of 
the nteetinn of the 'wilan,' held to settle 
the dispute between thcaecularsand regulars, 
which constilutea the sole interest of this 
short reign, will aiso be found under DCN- 
BTAN. It is evident tliut the monastic party 
was far less powerful under Endward than 
it had heen in the time of his father. Dun- 
etan seems to bare retained his intlucnce 
the court, though the East-Anglian party 
headed by yEthelwine certainly lost ground, 
and there is reaaon to believe that jElfhere 
the Mercian ealdorman had the chief hand in 
the management of affairs. The bnniKhment 
of Oslac, whom Eadgar had made Earl of 
Deiran Northumbria, is perhaps evidence of 
an intention to undo the poLcy of the last 
reign by attempting to bring tlio Danes of 
the north into more immediate dependence 
on the crown. Jiladward was assassinated on 
18 March 978. According to the enrlicKt de- 
tailed account of tlie murder (ii.) the thejtna 
of the faction that had upheld the claim 
put forward on behalf of nis lialf-brothei 
jEthelred plotted to take away his life, and 
decided on doing so on one of his visits to 
the child. On the evening of his murder he 
rode to Corfe, or Corfcs-gate, as it waa then 
caUcd,from the gap in which the town stands, 
in Dorsetshire, where j^ithelred was living 
with hia mother Jilfthryth. He liad few at- 
tendants with him, and the tbegne, evidently 
of j^fthrylh's household and party,came out 
with their arms in their hands, and crowded 
round him as IhouRh to do him honour. 
Among Ihem was tlie CLip-bearcr read^ la 
do his office. One of them seized the kmg'f 
hand, and pulled him lownrds him os though 
to kiss him — the kiss of the traitor may he 
an embellishment, for the salute would surely 
not have been oft'ered by a subject — while 
another seized his left hand. The young king 
cried, ' 'What an' ye doing, breaking my right 
band?' and as ht^ IcnpeiL from his horre the 
conspirator on his lelt stabbed him, and he 
fell dead. His corpw was taken to a poor 
cottage at Warcluiin, and was there buried 
without honour and in unennsecrated ground 
The murder excited great indignation, whicL 
waa increosed when it bt'cnme evident that 
the king's kinsmen would not avenge him. 
'No worse dce<l was done since the English 
racefirstsoucht Britain,' wrote thecbrcmicler. 
In 980 Archbishop Dunstan and jElfbere, 
the beads of the rival ecelesiagtical parties, 
went to Wareham and joined in troiislatinf 
the body with great pomp to Shaftesbury. 
There many miracles were wrought at the 



Edward 

king's tomb, and great crowds resorted to 
kneel before it. Eadwardwas reverenced as 

s saint and martyr. He was officially styled 
martyr as early as 1001 (Kemble, Codex 
THpl. 70*1), and the observance of his mass- 
day was ordered by the 'witan' in 1008 
(Thohpe), alaw that was re-enacted by Cnnt 
at "Winchester (I'fi.) Political feelings can 
scarcely have had anything to do with the 
murder of a king whose burial rites were per- 
formed by Dunstan and y£lf here in common. 
Although the biographer of St, Oswald says 
nothing of j^lfthryth, it is evident from hia 

' account of the murder that it was done not 
by any of the great nobles, but by the thegna 
of her household, and his silence as toner 
name is accounted for by the fact that she 
may have been alive when the hiographM 
wrote between 990 and 1006, for she seems 
to have died after 999 and before 1002, and 
that he wrote in the reign of her son ^thel- 
red. Osbern, writing about 1090, is the first 
plainly to attribute the murder to Eadward's 
step-mother (UtemoriaU nf Dvnttan, p. 114), 
and he is followed by £admer(td. 1^15). Flo- 
rence (i. 145) says that he was sluin by his 
own men by jEIfthryth's order. Henry of 
Huntingdon, while attributing his death to 
men of his own family, mentions the legend 

I that tells how yElfthrytli stabbed him as she 
handedhimacupofdrmk(748). Thislegend 
is elaborately related by wilham of Malmes- 
bury (Getta Eegvm, i. 258). The fact that 
his Iway, hastily as it was interred, waa buried 
at Worcbam gives some probability to the 
story that he was dracged for some distance 
by the stirrup. The deep feeling aroused by 
his death eeems to show that the young king 
was personally popular, and the affection he 
showed for his half-brother and the story of 
the child's grief at his death are perhaps evi- 
dences of a loveable nature. Osbem's re- 
marks on the general good opinion men had 
of him should not, however, be pressed, for 
Eadword's clinracter had then long been re- 
moved from criticism. One charter of Ead ward 
dated 977 is undoubtedly genuine (Kbhdle, 
CudexDipl.GU). 



[Vitn S.OswnI(li, Historinns of York, i. 448-S3 
(Rolls Ser.);AdoUrU,OKl>cni,i:adm('r,Memorial» 
of St. Dunstan, 91, 114, 215 (Rolls Srr.) ; Angio- 
^xon Chron. sub ann. 975-80; Floreaca of 
Worcester, i. \io (Eugl. HJBt. Soe.); William 
of Malme^bury, Geetii Itegum. i. 258 (Engl. 
Hist. Soc.) ; nenry of HunUngdon, Mon. Hist- 
Brit. 748 ; Thorpe's Ancient Laws. i. 308, 368 ; 
Xemble's Codei Diploniolicus, 61 1, 706 ; Itobert- 
Bon's Historical Essays in connecljon with tlie 
Land, the Church. &c., 168 ; Freeman's Korman 
ConquMt, i. 2SB-93, 341, SSS,flS4 ; Qreen'sCoD- 
iiucat of England, 363-T.] W. H. 



Edward 



Edward 



EDWARD or EADWABD. called the 
CoNFESSOB {d. 1066), kinff of the English, 
the elder son of -^thelred the Unready by 
his marriage in 1002 with Emma, daughter of 
Kichard the Fearless, duke of the Normans, 
was bom at Islip in Oxfordshire (Kekble, 
Codex DipL 862), and was presented by his 
{Arents upon the altar of tlie monastery of 
£ly, where it is said that he passed his early 
years and learnt to sing psalms with the 
boys of the monastery school {Liber EUensisy 
ii. c 91). When Swend was acknowledged 
king, in 1013, Emma fled to Normandy to the 
court of her brother, Richard the Good, and 
shortly afterwards ^thelred sent Eadward 
and ms younger brother -Alfred [q. v.] to join 
her there under the care of ^llhun, bishop 
of London. On Swend*s death, in February 
1014, Eadward and his mother were sent to 
England by ^thelred in company with the 
ambassadors who came over to ascertain 
•whether the * witan * would again receive him 
as king. When -^thelred was restored to 
his kingdom he left Eadward and his brother 
to be educated at the Norman court, where 
they were treated with the honour due to 
their birth (Will, of JuuikoES, vi. 10). To- 
wards the end of Cnut's reign, Duke Robert 
asserted their right to the throne, and Ead- 
ward set sail with the duke from Fecamp 
to invade England ; the wind drove the Nor- 
man fleet to Jersey and the enterprise was 
abandoned (ib, ; W ace, 1. 7897 sq. ; Geata 
Megum, iL 180). The assertion of William of 
Jumi^ges that Cnut soon afterwards offered 
half his kingdom to the sethelings may safely 
be disregarded. In 1036, when Cnut was 
dead, and Harold ruled over the northern 
part of England, while Harthacnut, though 
still in Denmark, reigned probably as an 
under-king over Weasex, the sethelings made 
an attempt to enforce their claim. Eadward 
is said to have sailed with forty ships, to 
have landed at Southampton, and to have 
defeated a force of English with great loss 
(Will, of Poitiebs, p. 78). He probably 
sailed in company with his brother, and 
stayed at Winchester, where his mother dwelt, 
while iElfred tried to reach London. When 
the news came of his brother's overthrow 
and death, Emma is said to have helped him 
to leave the kingdom in safety (Flor. Wig. 
i. 191-2; Kemble, Codex Dipt. 824, doubt- 
ful). He returned to England in 1041, pro- 
bably at the invitation of his half-brother 
Harthacnut, then sole king, who was child- 
less, and, though young, was in weak health. 
Several Normans and Frenohmen of high 
birth accompanied him, andchief among them 
his nephew i^lph, son of his sister Godgifu 
and Drogo of Mantes ( Vita Eadwardi, 1. §2b \ 



HUtoria Barnes, p. 171). The king received 
him with honour, and ne took up his abode 
at court, though the story that he was in- 
vited b^ Harthacnut to share the kingship 
with him can scarcely be true (Encomium 
Emmce, iii. 13 ; Saxo, p. 202). 

At the time of Harthacnut's death, in June ' 
1042, Eadward appears to have been in Nor- 
mandy ( Vitat 1. 196 ; Will, of Poitiees, 
p. 85). Nevertheless, he was chosen king 
at London, even before his predecessor was 
buried. This election was evidently not held 
to be final, and was probably made by the Lon- 
doners without the concurrence of tne * witan ' 
(on the circumstances attending Eadword's 
election and coronation aeeNonnan Ccmqtiest, 
ii. 517 sq.) Negotiations appear to have 
passed between Eadward and Earl Godwine, 
the most powerful noble in the kingdom, who 
was perhaps anxious to prevent him from 
bringing over a force of Normans (Henbt op 
HuNTDJGDON, p. 759), and these negotiations 
were no doubt forwarded by the Norman 
Duke William, though it is not necessary to 
believe that Eadward owed his crown to the 
duke*s interference, and to the fear that the 
English had of his power. Godwine and- 
other earls and certain bishops brought him 
over from Normandy, and on his arrival in 
England a meeting of the ' witan ' was held 
at Gillingham. According to Dr. Freeman 
this was the Wiltshire Gulingham, for the 
meeting was, he holds, directly followed by 
the coronation at Winchester. On the other 
hand, Ead ward's biographer speaks of a coro- 
nation at Canterbury, and as a contemporary 
writing for the king's widow can scarcely be 
mistaken on such a point, it seems not un- 
reasonable to suppose that this was the Gil- 
lingham in Kent. Some opposition was raised 
in the assembly to Eadward's candidature, 
probably by a Danish party which upheld the 
claim of Swend Estrithson, the nephew of 
Cnut ( Gesta Meguniy ii. 197 ; Adam of Bre- 
men, ii. 74). Althouffh Godwine, both as 
the husband of Swend's aunt Gytha and as 
the trusted minister of Cnut, must naturally 
have been inclined to the Danish cause, he 
must have seen that the nation was set on 
the restoration of the line of native kings, 
for he put himself at the head of Eadwara's 
supporters, and by his eloquence and autho* 
rity joined with a certain amount of bribery 
secured his election, the few who remained 
obstinate being noted for future punishment. 
Eadward received the crown and was en- 
throned in Christ Church, Canterbury, and 
then, if this attempt to construct a consecu- 
tive narrative is correct, at once proceeded 
to Winchester, where it was customary for 
the king to wear his crown and hold a great 



Edward 



8 



Edward 



assembly every Easter. There, on Easter day, 
8 April 1043, he was solemnly crowned by 
Eadsiffe, archbishop of Canterbury, assisted 
by -^Ifric of York and other bishops, Ead- 
sige exhorting him as to the things that were 
for his and for his people's good {Anglo- 
Saxon Chron.) The opposition to his elec- 
tion and the subsequent punishment of the 
leaders of the Danisn party have been made 
the basis of a fable, which represents the Eng- 
lish as rising against the Danes at the death 
of Harthacnut, and expelling them from the 
kingdom by force of arms (Brompton, col. 
934 ; KxiGHTON, col. 2320). At Winchester 
Eadward received ambassadors irom the Ger- 
man king Henry, afterwards the Emperor 
Henry III, his brother-in-law, who sent them 
to congratulate him, to bring him presents, 
and to make alliance with him. Henry, king 
of the French, also sought his alliance, and 
Magnus of Norway, who was now engaged 
in making himself master of Denmark, is said 
to have taken him for * father,' and bound him- 
self to him by oaths, while the great vassals 
of these kings are also described as doing him 
homage ( FtYa, 1 . 206 sq . ) As regards Magnus 
and thenoblesof other Kingdoms it is probable 
that the biographer has exaggerated, though 
just at that moment the Norwegian king may 
well have made some effort to secure the 
friendship of England. In the following No- 
vember Ladward, by the advice of the three 
chief earls of the kingdom, seized on the vast 
treasures of his mother, Emma, and shortly 
afterwards deprived Stigand, her chaplain and 
counsellor, oi his bishopric. The reason of 
these acts was that Emma ' had done less for 
him than he would before he was king, and 
also since then ' i^A.^S, Chron.) ; since her 
marriage with Cnut she had thrown in her 
lot witn the fortunes of the Danish dynasty, 
had now probably refused to assist the party 
of Eadward, and may even have espoused the 
cause of Swend. Iler fall was followed by 
the banishment of several of the leading 
Danes. Of the three earls, Godwine, earl of 
Wessex, Leofric of Mercia, and Si ward of 
Northumbria, who virtually divided England 
between them, Godwine was the ablest and 
most powerful. The king was bound to him 
asthemainagent in setting him on the throne, 
and on 23 Jan. 1045 married his daughter 
Eadgyth [see Edith, d. 1075]. 

Eadward is described as of middle stature 
and kingly mien ; his hair and his beard were 
of snowy whiteness, his face was plump and 
ruddv, and his skin white ; he was doubtless 
an albino. His manners were affable and gra- 
cious, and while he bore himself majestically 
in public, he used in private, though never 
unaignified, to be sociable with hia courtiers. 



Although he was sometimes moved to great 
wrath he abstained from using abusive words. 
Unlike his countrymen generally he was mo- 
derate in eating and drinking, and though at 
festivals he wore the rich robes his queen 
worked for him, he did not care for them, for 
he was free from personal vanity. He was 
charitable, compassionate, and devout, and 
during divine service always behaved with a 
decorum then unusual among kings, for he 
very seldom talked unless some one asked him 
a Question ( Vita), That he desired the good 
of his people there can be no question ; but 
it is equally certain that he took little pains 
to secure it. His virtues would have adorned 
the cloister, his failings ill became a throne. 
The regrets of his people when under the 
harsh rule of foreigners and the saint ship with 
which he was invested after his death have to 
some extent thrown a veil over his defects ; 
but he was certainly indolent and neglectful 
of his kindly duties (Ailrep, col. 388 ; Gesta 
JRegvm, ii. 196 ; Saxo, p. 203). The division 
of the kingdom into great earldoms hindered 
the exercise of the royal power, and he wil- 
lingly left the work of government to others. 
At every period of his reign he was under the 
influence and control, either of men who had 
gained power almost independently of him, or 
of his personal favourities. These favourites 
were cnosen with little regard to their deserts, 
and were mostly foreigners ; for his long re- 
sidence in Normandy made him prefer Nor- 
mans to Englishmen. Besides those who came 
over with him in the reign of Harthacnut, 
many others also came hither after he was 
made king. When he was at Winchester, at 
the time of his coronation he sent gifts to the 
French (Norman) nobles, and to some of them 
granted vearly pensions. Save as regards 
ecclesiastical preferments, the influence of 
Earl Godwine appears to have been strong 
enough at first to keep the foreigners at the 
court, simply in the position of personal fa- 
vourites, but after a while the king promoted 
them to offices in the state, as well as in the 
church. The court was the scene of per- 
petual intrigues, and, slothful as he was. Lad- 
ward seems to have taken part in these ma- 
noeu^Tes. Apart from his share in them he 
did little except in ecclesiastical matters. 
He favoured monasticism, and gave much 
to monasteries both at home and abroad. 
Foreign churchmen were always sure to 
gain wealth if they came to this country, as 
they often did, on a begging expedition, and 
to receive preferment if thev stayed here. 
Bishoprics were now as a rule virtually at 
the king's disposal, and Eadward certainly 
did not endeavour to appoint the best men to 
them. In this matter, as in all else, he was 



Edward 



Edward 



often guided by his partiality for his favourites, 
or by some court intrigue. The first intrigue 
of this kind was carried out by Godwine, 
who in 1044, with the king's co-operation, 
arranged the appointment of a coadjutor- 
archbishop of Canterbury, in order to secure 
the position of his adherent Eadsige [q. v.] 
Although Eadward was probably not per- 
sonally guilty of simony, ne made no enort 
to prevent others from practising it ; and this 
evu, which did the greatest mischief to the 
church, and against which vigorous efforts 
were now being made in other lands, was 
shamefully prevalent here during his reign, 
and was carried on by those who were most 
trusted by him. His alleged refusal to avail 
himself of marital privileges, which is dwelt 
on with special unction by his monastic ad- 
mirers, is not distinctly asserted either by the 
writers of the * Chronicle,' or by Florence, or 
by the king's contemporary biographer. It is 
spoken of, though only as a matter of report, by 
"William of Jumidges, and was generally be- 
lieved in the twelfth century. The concur- 
rence of the queen is asserted by ^thelred 
(Ailred) of Rievaux, who gives many evi- 
dently imaginarv details. Some expressions 
in the 'Vita Eaawardi' seem to make it pro- 
bable that Eadward, who must have been 
about forty at the time of his marriage, lived 
with his young and beautiful wife, though 
making her * tori ejus consocia ' (1. 1015), 
rather as a father than as a husband (11. 1365, 
1420, 1559). It is possible that he was 
physically unfit for married life (the whole 
question is exhaustively discussed by Dr. 
Fbeemak, Norman Conquesty ii. 47, 530-5). 
A leading feature in his character seems to 
have been a certain childishness, which comes 
out forcibly in the story that one day, when 
he was hunting — a pastime to wnich he 
was much addicted — a countryman threw 
down the fences which compelled the stags 
to run into the nets. The King fell into a 
iBge, and cried, ' B}r God and his mother, I 
will do you a like ill turn if I can ' ( Geata 
jReffum, ii. 196). Again, it is said that he 
was once an unseen witness of a theft from 
his treasury. Twice the thief filled his 
bosom, and when he came to the chest for a 
third supply the king heard the footstep of 
his treasurer, and cried to the thief to make 
haste, for ' Bv the mother of God,' he said, 
' if Hugolin this Norman treasurer] comes, 
he will not leave you a coin.' The thief 
made off, and when the treasurer was aghast 
at the loss, the king told him that enough 
was lefty and that he who had taken what 
was gone wanted it more than either of 
them, and should kc^ it (Ailbed, col. 376^ 
During the first six or seven years of £aa- 



ward's reign, while he was evidently under 
the influence of Godwine, he showed some 
signs of activity. A Scandinavian invasion 
was threatened, for as soon as Magnus had 
taken possession of Denmark, he sent to Ead- 
ward demanding the throne of England in 
virtue of an agreement with Harthacnut 
(Laino, Sea Kings j ii. 397 ; Corpus Poeticum 
Boreale, ii. 178). A fleet was fitted out ^o 
meet the expected invasion, and the king ap- 
pears to have taken a personal part in the 
preparations. Magnus, however, had to en- 
gage in a war with Swend, and, though he 
was victorious, died in 1047, before he could 
carry out his design on England. About 
this time a raid was made on the southern 
coasts by two Norwegian leaders, and Ead- 
ward embarked with his earls and pursued 
the pirates. The ships of the vikings took 
shelter in Flanders, and when, in 1049, the 
Emperor Henry called on Eadward to help 
him against his rebellious vassal Count Bald- 
win, the king ^thered his fleet at Sandwich 
and lay there in readiness to take an active 
part against the common enemy. While he 
was there he was reconciled to Godwine's 
son Swegen, the seducer of the abbess of Leo- 
minster, who had left the kingdom, had been 
outlawed, and had betaken himself to a sea- 
rover's life, and he even promised to restore 
him all that he had forfeited. Swegen's bro- 
ther Harold, and his cousin Beom [q. v.], 
who had profited by his disgrace, persuaded 
the king to change his mind, and to refuse 
his request. In revenge Swegen slew Beom, 
and was again outlawed ; the next year his 
outlawry was reversed [see under Aldrbd], 
Meanwhile, the foreign party was rapidly 
gaining strength ; it was headed by Robert, 
who had come over to England as abbot of 
Jumidges, and had, in 1044, been made bishop 
of London. He had been one of the king^ 
friends during his residence in Normandy, 
and soon gained ^uch unbounded influence 
over him that it is said that if he declared 

* a black crow to be white the king would 
sooner believe his words than his own eyes ' 
{Ann, Wtnton, p. 21); he used this influence 
to set Eadward against Godwine. Another 
Norman, named Ulf, one of Eadward's clerks 
or chaplains, received the vast bishopric of 
Dorchester from the king in 1049. He was 
scandalously unfit for such preferment, and 

* did nought bishop-like therein XAnglo-Saxon 
Chron.) One effect of Eadward s foreign 
training, and of the promotion of foreign ec- 
clesiastics, was an increase of the relations 
between our church and Latin Christendom. 
In 1049 Eadward sent representatives to the 
council held by Leo IX at Rheims, that they 
might bring him word what was done there 



Edward 



lO 



Edward 



{ib.)f and the next year he sent ambassadors 
to Home for another purpose. Before he 
came to the throne he had, it is said, made a 
vow of pilgrimage to Rome, and its non-ful- 
filment troubled his conscience. Accord- 
Mig^ly* ^^ are told, though the details of the 
Btory are somewhat doubtful, that he con- 
sulted the * witan* on the subject, and that 
they declared that he ought not to leave the 
kingdom, and advised him to apply to the 
pope for absolution. He certainly sent Eald- 
red [see under Aldred] and another bishop 
to the council of Home, and it is said that 
Leo there granted him absolution on condi- 
tion that he gave to the poor the money that 
the journey would have cost him, and built 
or restorea a monastery in honour of St. 
Peter (Ailred, col. 381 ; Kemble, Codea: 
DipL 824, doubtful; Anglo-^axon Chron, 
sub an. 1047). He afterwards fulfilled the 
pope's command by building the West Min- 
ster. The same year Ulf attended another papal 
council at Vercelli, apparently seeking the 
confirmation of his appointment, which was 
a strange thing for an English bishop to do. 
The utter unfitness of the man whom Ead- 
ward had preferred was apparent to all, and 
*they wellnigh broke his staflf because he 
could not perform his ritual,* but he saved 
his bishopnc by a large payment of money. 
The rivalry between Godwine and his ad- 
herents and the foreign party came to a trial 
of strength on the death of Archbishop Ead- 
sige in October 1050. yElfric [(j. v.], a kins- 
man of Godwine, who was canonically elected 
to the archbishopric, and whose claims were 
upheld by the earl, was rdected by the king 
in favour of Kobert of Jumi^ges, who re- 
ceived the see the following year. Eadward 
perhaps gratified himself by appointing Spear- 
hafoc, abbot of Abingdon, a skuful goldsmith, 
to succeed Robert, in the bishopric of London, 
for he was engaged to make a splendid crown 
for the king, a circumstance that suggests a 
corrupt motive for his preferment (Jiistoria 
de Abingdon, i. 403). Eadward gave his ab- 
bey to a Norwegian bishop, who is said to 
have been his own kinsman, inducing the 
monks, though against their will, to receive 
him, by promising that at the next vacancv 
their rignt of election should be unfettered, 
a promise he did not keep (ib. p. 464). When 
Robert returned from Rome with his pall, 
Spearhafoc applied to him for consecration, 
presenting him with the king's scaled writ 
commandmg him to perform the rite ; this 
Robert refused to obey, declaring that the 
pope had forbidden hmi to do so, which 
makes it probable that the appointment was 
simoniacal. Eadward, however, gave Spear- 
hafoc his ' full leave ' to occupy the bishopric^ 



unconsecratedashewa6(A9i^/o-iSSauvn Cknm, 
Peterborough, sub an. 1048). In the same 
year that Eadward made these ecclesiastical 
appointments (1051) he stopped the collec- 
tion of the heregeld, a tax levied for the 
maintenance of the fleet, and disbanded the 
seamen. The remission of this tcLX was a 
highly popular measure, and was, according 
to legend, granted by the kin^ in consequence 
of his seeing the devil sittmg on the heap 
of treasure it had produced (novEDEir,i. 110). 
It should probably be connected with the de- 
cline of the influence exerted on Eadward 
by Earl Gt)dwine, who could scarcely have 
approved of his thus doing away with the 
means of naval defence. 

In the autumn of this year the men of 
Dover incurred the king's displeasure by re- 
sisting the outrages committed by one of his 
foreign visitors, Eustace, count of Boulogne, 
the second husband of his sister Godgifu. 
Eustace complained to Eadward, and he com- 
manded Godwine, in whose earldom Dover 
lay, to march on the town and harry it. 
Godwine refused to obey this tyrannical 
order, and Archbishop Robert took occasion 
to excite the king against him, reminding 
him that the earl was, as he asserted, guilty 
of the cruel murder of his brother Alfred 
( Vittty 1. 406). A second cause of auarrel 
arose from the outrsj^es committed oy the 
garrison of a castle built by one of Eadward's 
S'rench followers in Herefordshire, the earl- 
dom of Godwine*s son Swegen. Eadward 
summoned a meeting of the ' witan,' and the 
Earls Leofric and Siward arrayed their forces 
on the king's side against those of Godwine 
and his sons. The king, who was at Glou- 
cester, was for a while very fearful, but 
gained confidence when ho found himself 
strongly supported, and refused Godwine*s 
demands. Civil war was prevented by the 
mediation of Leofric; Swegen's outlawry 
was renewed ; and Godwine and Harold were 
summoned to appear at the witenagemot at 
London. They demanded a safe-conduct and 
hostages, and when these were refused, the 
earl and his family fled the country and were 
outlawed. Archbishop Robert is said to have 
endeavoured to bring about a divorce between 
the king and queen, and, though he did not 
insist on this, he persuaded Kadward, who 
listened willingly enough to his counsel, to 
seize on the queen's possessions and send her 
off* in d isgrace to a nunn ery . The foreign party 
had now undisputed influence over the king; 
Spearhafoc was deprived of the bishopric of 
London, and one of Eadward*s Norman clerks 
named William was consecrated to the see. 
W^illiam, duke of the Normans, came over to 
England with a large number of followers to 



Edward 



II 



Edward 



Tifiit his cousin, and Eadward received him 
honourahly and sent him away with many 
rich gifts {Angh-Saxon Chron, Worcester; 
Flob. Wig. ; Wace, 1. 10648 sq.) It is pro- 
bable that during this visit Eadward pro- 
mised to do what he could to promote the 
duke's succession to the English throne (3 o;^ 
nutn Conquest^ ii. 294-300, iii. 677 sq.) In 
1052 Godwine made an attempt to procure 
a reconciliation with the king, and his cause 
was urged by ambassadors from the French 
king and the count of Flanders, but his ene- 
mies prevented Eadward from attending to 
their representations. At last he determ^ed 
to return by force. Harold plundered' the 
coast of Somerset with some Irish ships, and 
Godwine, after making one ineffectual attempt 
to effect a landing with ships that he gathered 
in Flanders, joined his son, sailed up the 
Thames, anchored off Southwark, and was 
welcomed by most of the Londoners. Ead- 
ward did not hear of the earFs invasion until 
his fleet had reached Sandwich. On receiving 
the news he summoned his forces to meet 
him, hastened up to London with an army, 
and occupied the north side of the river. 
There he received a demand from the earl 
that he and his house should be restored. 
He refused for some while, and the earl's 
men were so enraged that they could with 
difficulty be withheld from violence. Sti- 
gand, since 1047 bishop of Winchester, me- 
diated between the two parties, hostages 
were given, and it was determined to lay 
the whole Question before an assembly which 
should be held the next day, 15 Sept. As 
soon as this arrangement came to their ears, 
all the foreigners, churchmen as well as lay- 
men, fled in haste, Robert and Ulf escaping 
from England by ship. The assembly was 
held outside London, and there the earl knelt 
before the king, and adjured him by the cross 
he bore upon his crown to allow him to purge 
himself by oath of what was laid against him. 
The earVs cause was popular, he was declared 
innocent, he and his family were restored to 
all they had held before their outlawry, and 
Archbishop Robert and all the Normans who 
had acted unjustly and given evil counsel 
were declared outlaws. Eadward, who found 
himself deserted by his foreign favourites, 
and with far less power in the assembly than 
the earl, yielded to the entreaties of his ad- 
visers, and was formally reconciled to him 
and his sons. The reconciliation was speedily 
followed by the return and restoration of the 
queen. As far as matters of government 
were concerned Eadward was now wholly 
under the power of Godwine and his party, 
and their ascendency was shown by the ap- 
pointment of Stigand to the archbishopric of 



Canterbury, which he held in defiance of the 

law of the church during the lifetime of 

Robert. On the death of Godwine, who waa 

seized with a fit while feasting with the king 

in April 1053, Eadward appomted his eldest 

surviving son, Harold, to succeed him as earl 

! of the West-Saxons, and from that time left 

, the government in Harold's hands. At the 

' same time he was not deprived of the society 

' of his Norman favourites, for the sentence of 

■ outlawry proclaimed at the restoration of 

Godwine only touched those foreigners who 

had abused their power, and a large number 

of Normans remained in England during the 

remainder of the reign, and held oflices in the 

court. With the exception, however, of the 

king's nephew, Ralph, who was allowed to 

retain his earldom, and William, bishop of 

London, who was personally popular, no great 

offices in church or state were alter 1052 held 

by Normans {Norman Conquestj ii. 358). 

Whatever the truth may be about Ead- 
ward's promise to Duke William with respect 
to the succession, he either of his own accord, 
or prompted by a decree of the ' witan,'sent for 
his nephew^, Ladward the aetheling, in 1054, 
to come to him from Hungary, intending to 
make him his heir. The oetheling arrived 
in England in 1057. He was, however, kept — 
we are not told by whom — from seeing his 
uncle, and died shortly afterwards {Anglo- 
Saxo7i Chron., Abingdon; Flor. Wig.) No 
other Englishman appears to have been so 
beloved by Eadward as Tostig, the brother 
of Harold. This stem and violent man gained 
great influence over the weak king, who in 
spite of his saintliness was spiteful and cruel 
when any one offended him, and must there- 
fore have been glad to find a counsellor and 
companion as unscrupulous as he was himself 
wlien his passion was roused, and of a far 
stronger will than his own. Tostig was also 
dearer to the queen than any of her brothers, 
and Harold's scheme for increasing his own 
power by appointing him to rule over the 
earldom of Northumberland, at the death of 
Siward in 1055, was therefore acceptable at 
court. A further attempt to raise the power 
of the house of Godwine was the banishment 
of -«'Elfgar, earl of the East- Angles, who was 
accused of treason against the king and the 
people, il^'lfgar, who according to most of 
our authorities was almost or altogether 
guiltless, was driven to rebellion, and in 
alliance with Gruilydd, of North Wales, made 
war on England, and did much mischief. 
Before long, however, Eadward reinstated 
him in all his possessions, and Gruffydd made 
submission to the English king and acknow- 
ledged his superiority. The wars of Harold 
in Wales, ana his conquest of the country, 



Edward 



12 



Edward 



scarcely concern the king personally. On 
3 May 1060 Eadward was present at the 
consecration of the collegiate church founded 
by Harold at Waltham. The Welsh war 
ended in 1063, and in August Harold pre- 
sented the king with the head of Gruffydd, 
who had been slain by his own people, and 
with the beak of his ship. Eadward granted 
Wales to two of Grnffydd's kinsmen, and 
received their submission. He was hunting 
with Tostig in the forests near Wilton, in 
October 10(56, when Harold brought him 
tiding of the insurrection of the north. The 
appointment of Tostig to the earldom of 
Northumberland had been disastrous. He 
43eems to have passed most of his time with 
the king in the south of England; for he 
iianded over the govemqient of his vast 
•earldom to a deputy. The Northumbrians, 
no doubt, were offended at finding their land 
i;educed to the position of a * mere depend- 
ency' {Norman Coyiquest^ ii. 485). Tostig's 
violence and treachery enraged them; his 
Absence encouraged them to revolt. The in- 
surgents held an assembly at York, and chose 
an earl for themselves, >lorkere, the younger 
son of iElfgar, who during the last years of 
his life had been earl of Mercia, and had at 
his death been succeeded by his elder son 
Eadwine. Although the revolt of the north 
against Tostig lessened the power of God- 
wine's house, it does not follow that it was a 
'Check to the plans of Harold ; for he had by 
this time formed an alliance with Eadwine 
and Morkere, and had married their sister. 
He now appeared before the king with the 
news that Tostig's followers had been slain, 
and that Morkere and the northern army had 
already advanced as far south as Northamp- 
ton. Eadward at first seems to have believed 
that there was no cause for anxiety, and 
simply sent Harold to the insurgents with 
the command that they were to lay down 
their arms, and seek justice in a lawful 
assembly ( FtVrt, 1. 1159). They answered 
that they demanded the banishment of Tostig 
and the recognition of Morkere as their earl, 
and that on these conditions only they would 
return to their loyalty. After two other 
attempts to pacify them by negotiation the 
king seems to have awoke to the serious na- 
ture of the revolt. He left his hunting, and 
held an assembly at Britford, near Salisbury. 
There Tostig accused Harold before the king 
of stirring up this revolt against him, and 
Harold cleared himself of the charge by the 
process of law known as compurgation (i6. 
I. 1182). Eadward was eager to call out 
the national forces and put down the revolt 
with the sword. To this the nobles, evi- 
dently with Harold at their head, strongly 



objected, and when they were unable to dis- 
suade him they withdrew from him and left 
him powerless. Harold met the insurgents 
at Oxford on 28 Oct., and yielded to all their 
demands. Three days later Eadward, unable 
to protect his favourite, loaded him with 
presents, and parted with him with exceeding 
sorrow, and Tostig and his family left Eng- 
land. Mortification and sorrow brought an 
illness on Eadward, from which he never 
recovered ; and he called on God to avenge 
him on those who had failed him at his need 
and baffled his hopes of crushing the insur- 
gents {ib, 1. 1195 sq.) 

Ever since 1051 Eadward had been carry- 
ing on the work of rebuilding the monastery 
of Thomey beyond the western ^ate of Lon- 
don in fulfilment of the charge laid upon him 
by the pope. The monastic buildings were 
completea in 1061, and during the last years 
of his life he pressed on the erection of the 
church, which he built a little to the west 
of the old one, so that the monks mi^ht be 
able to continue to perform service without 
interruption (Kemblb, Codex Dipl. 824, 825, 
spurious ; Vita, 1. 974 sq.) A tenth of all his 
possessions was devoted to the work. His 
church was the earliest example in England 
of the Norman variety of romanesoue archi- 
tecture, and remained in the twelftn century 
as the model wliich others strove to imitate 
( Genta Reguniy ii. c. 228). It was consecrated 
on Innocents* day, 28 Dec. 1065. Eadward 
was too ill to be present at the magnificent 
ceremony, and his place was taken by his 
queen. He was now lying on his deathbed in 
his palace hard by, and when he heard that all 
had been duly accomplished he rapidly grew 
worse, and on 3 Jan. was so weaK that he 
could no longer speak intelligibly ( Vita^ 1. 
1447). On the 5th he recovered his power 
of speech, and talked with those who stood 
round his bed : his queen, who was warming 
his feet in her bosom. Archbishop Stigand, 
Harold, his Norman staller Kobert, and some 
few of his personal friends. He prophesied 
that a time of evil was coming on the land, 
and signified by an allegory how long that 
time would last. All heard him with awe 
save Stigand, who whispered in Harold's ear 
that age and sickness had robbed him of his 
wits. He took leave of his queen, com- 
mended her to the care of the earl, her 
brother, and it is said named him as his 
successor (ib. 1. 1563 ; Ayiglo-Saxon Chron. 
Peterborough and Abingdon ; Flor. Wig. i. 
224). Then he bade him be gracious to those 
foreigners who had left their own land to 
come and dwell as his subjects, and who had 
served him faithfully, and gave directions for 
his burial. He received the last sacrament 



Edward 



13 



snd then died. He was buried the next day 
iu his newW consecrated church of St. Peter 
at Weatmioater, probably by Abhot Ead- 
wine (Nortnan Conqneat, iii. 28 ; here, as 
elsevbere, Dr. Freeman lues that importaat 
fecotd, tba Bnyeux tapeatry, to good effect). 
The BO-called laws of Eadward are said to 
have been drawn np from declarations made 
on oath by twelve men of each sUire iu 1070 
(HoTTDES, ii. 218) ; the earliest extant ver- 
Bion of them was perhaps compiled by Ranulf 
Glanrill (,/i. pref ilvii). Probably in 1070 
the Conqueror declared that all should live 
under Eadward'a law, t-ogether with siich 
additions as be had made to it, and a lihe 
promise was made by Henrv I in his charter 
ofllOO (.%/«( CSnrtern.Sl, 98). These grants, 
which should be compared with Cnut's re- 
newal of Eadgar'a law [see under CANtriE], 
signified that the people should enjoy their 
nAtional laws and customs, and that English 
and Sormana should dwell together in peace 
. and security. Eadward's tomb before the 
high altar soon became the scene of many 
muvcles t nta, 1. 1609). As the last Eng- 
lish king of f be old royal line he was naturally 
remembered with feelings of affection, that 
found expression iu acts of devotion and 
legends of bis holiness. Among these le^nds 
his vision that (he seven sleepers of Epliesiis 
hail turned on to their left siaea is one of the 
most famous {Krtorie.l. 3341 aq.) Another 
of greater historical importance, as proving 
that be practised the custom of episcopal in- 
vestiture, must be reserved for the lifo of 
"Wulfetan, bishop of Worcester (Aileed, 
Gol. 406). He is said to have beeled many 
persons, and especially those suffering from 
nlccrs, by touching them. William of 
Malmesbury declares that those who linew 
him while he lived in Normandy said that 
he performed some rairaclea of this kind be- 
fore he come to the throne, and that it wai 
therefore a mistake to assert, as some peopli 
then did, that he had tliis power, not because 
of his holiness, hut in virtue of his hereditary 
royalty (Genla Segam, ii. 222). By theend 
of the twelfth century it appears Xo have 
senerallv been believed that the kings of 
England had the gift of healing in virtue of 
their anointing (Pkteb of Blois, Ep. 11)0), 
and down to theearlypart of the eigiiteentb 
c«ntury the power of curing the ' king's evil ' 
was held to descend as an ' hereditary mira- 
cle' upon all the rightful successors of the 
Confessor (Collier, Eecletiiaiicitt BUtorji, i. 
630). It was, of course, no part of the Nor^ 



for a king who was the kinsman of ibe Con- 
oueror, and whose lawful successor William 
claimed to be, and as the monks of Westmin- 



Edward 

ster declared that the body of their patroo 
bad not undergone decay, liis tomb waB 
opened in 1102 by Gilbert Crispin, the abbot, 
and Uundulf, bishop of Rochester, who, it is 
Baid,foundthat the report was true (Ailbed, 
col. 408). In 1140 an attempt was made by 
Eadwanl's biographer, Oabort, or Osbem, of 
rii — -. prior of Westminster, to procure his 
ition by Innocent II. Usbert's scheme 
nothinc, and Eailward was canonised 
by Alexander III in 1181. his day, of course, 
being that of his death {Monnstii^on, i. 308 i 
Conquest, ui. 33). The body of the 
It was first translated by Thomas, 
archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of 
Henry II, on 13 Oct. 1163, and the event is 
still commemorated on that day in the calen* 
dar of the English church (Paris, ii. 221). 
At the coronation of Henry III, iu 1236, the 
Confessor's sword was carried before the king^ 
by the Earl of Cheater {ii. iii. 337). This 
sword, which waa called ' custein,' or ' cur- 
formed part of the regalia, and the 
present 'sword of state' is the counterpart 
ofit(LopriB, Tower 0/ London, -p. 19). Henry 
held the Confessor, to whom indeed he bore 
a certain moral resemblanCi?, in special rever- 
ence, and caused his eldest son, Edward I, 
to bo named after him (Trivct, p. 225). 
Moreover, to do him houour, he rebuilt the 
abbey of Westminster, and on 13 Oct. 1269 
performed with great splendour the second 
translation of the relics, which were laid in a 
shrine ofextroordinary magnificence (Wises, 
p. 226). The abrine waa spoiled in the reign 
of Henry VIII, but the body of the king wa« 
not disturbed. Queen Mary restored the 
shrine, and the body of the Confessor was 
for the third time translated, on 20 March 
ir).j6-7 (Oiwy Friarn Chronicle, p. 94, and 
SUcuTS, Diary, p, 130, Camd. Hoc.) 

[Dr. Freomnn has devoted v&l. ii. of his Nor- 
mnn Conquoat almost nholiy to the reign of the 
Confessor, and it Las not been possibla to aild 
anything material to vhat he has recardvd. In 
the above articla seveml events of the reign hav» 
been left out becansc they do not seem 10 have 
con ea mod tbo king porso Dally ; thfy will be found 
in Dr. Freetiian's work. Lives of Edward the 
Cotifessor, td. Lanrd (Rolls Ser.), coDtnina, with 
soma lesa impnrtsnt plei^es, the Vita .£dimardi 
R^gis, irritten for Queen Eadg]'tb,and L« Estoiie 
do Stint Aedirord le Rei, n poem dedicated tA 
Eleanor, queen of Henry III. This poem is 
liireely based on the Vita S, Edwnrdi of Ailred 
[jEthelred] of Ilievaux. Twvsden, written enrly 
in the roipn of Henry II. 'This again is lokeit 
almost bodily from the Vita by Osbort the prior, 
montianed above. Osbort's work, which has never 
bfen printed, is in Corpus Christi College. Cam- 
bridge.MS.lGt(Luani'a Lives, pref. xxv; Hardy'* 
Cat. of MSS. i. 637). See alsoAnglD-Saioa Cbnta. 



Edward I 



Edward I 



(Bolls SerOi Florence of WQi*oalor(Eiigl. Hist. 
Soc.); Sjmi-aaof Uurh&ni(IlollaSar.); WilliiLin 
ofM&lmeibiir3',Oe!itJiReeani(EngLUi8C. Soc.)i 
Spary of liuntingdon, lUoii. Hisl. Urit. ; Kent- 
blo'a Codoi Dipl. iv. {Engl. Hist Sue.): Hi»- 
torio ItumeBienBL-i (Bolls Ser.) ; Lilier Etionsii 
(Stuwart): Climn. de Abingdoo (RdIIh Ser.) 
Bogorof Howdon (Rolls Ser.) ; Brempton, Knigh' 
ton, TirvBden ; William of Poitiers (Giles) ; 
Wwn'M Itomnn <Io lion (Tttylof ) ; Willinin of 
JamiigBS (Dnchcene) ; Silio, Iliataiin Dnnica 
(Stepluniug) ; Encumiam Emmn; [Cnntonix 
Gmtii] (Porti): Jlntthew Paris (Rolli Ser.)i 
VfAea'a Ann. Minast. iv. (Rolla l^er.); Dnpialo'a 
UoDBsticoa ; Grran'a Cooqucst of Kntjlani! ; 
Dart's ■\Ve«tmonustettuin ; SlaoleyV Meniorinls 
of Wflstroinslcr,] W. U. 

EDWARD I (1339-130;), kinp;, eldest 
Bon of Ilonry III and EleJinor of Provence, 
WBs born Bt \\\-fltmin8ter, 17-18 June 1339. 
Ilia birth was hailed with sppciul joy, for it 
was fcnrcd that t he queen won liiirrt!ii(FjtBiS, 
iii. 518). TliPTOwaa much n'joicinR in Lon- 
don, and many preBonts were made to Ihe 
king, who insisled that they nhould be of 
great vBlite, so that it weu aaid, ' Uod ^rc 
UB this infant, but our lord the Icing aclls him 
to us.' Four days ufter liis birtli the ehild 
yrita bapliBcd by (be cardinaJ-litpito, Otho, 
though lie ■vaa not a pritst, and was called 
Edward, atlvr Edward the Confenor, whose 
memory woh hi(thly honoured by iho king 
fTltlVET, p. S2u). Among hia aponsors was 
Simon de MoDtfort, earl of Leicester. Hia 
name points to a newty awakened pride that 
WM now fult by the English pt-ople in their 
nationality, and men were pleaspil to trace 
the descent of their kind's son from Alfred 
(Cant. Vlob. Will.') An oath of fealty to 
the child was token in every part of the 
kingdom (yjiiii. Teicii. p. IIJJ. He was 
bmiiglit up at Windsor, under the core of 
Hugh Giffard (Pauis, iv. r.r>3). Ilia mother 
took him with her to ll«aulieu in .Tune 1240 
to the dedication of the conventual church, 
and while he was there lie fell sick, so the 
queen stayed for three weeks in a Ciatercian 
bouse agninst the rules of the order, thai slie 
might nurse him {Ann. Wai: 337). The 
next year the kingsent an embassy to Henry, 
duke of Brabant, to propoae a iiiarringo be- 
tween Edward and one of the duke's daugb- 
tera (Mary P), bnt the eclieme waa not suc- 
cuHsful. On 9 AuK. tbe lad was with his 
parents at Dunstable, and on 20 Sept. he 
lay very ill at London, and the king asked 
the prayera of all persona of religion in and 
around the city for hia recoTery (Ann. Duiat. 
p. 173 ; Paris, iv. 639). In 1252 Henrygava 
bim Gaacony, and in an assembly of Gascons 
m Loodon declared him their new ruler, say- 



ing that he resen-edthe chief lordship. The 
Goscons, who received the announcement 
joyfully, did him homage, and Edward did 
homage to the king, and gave them rich 
gifts. A strong affection existed between 
Edward and his father, aad when Ihe king 
sailed for Gaacony in August 1253, Edward, 
who came to Portsmouth Ko aoe him olT, 
stood upon Ihe shore and watched the vessel 
depart with many aoha. Ha was left under 
the guardianship of his mother and his uucle 
liichard, earl of Cornwall. In order to pre- 
vent the rebellious Gascona from obtaining 
help from Cast ile, Henry proposed a marriage 
between Edward and Eleanor, the sister of 
Alfonso X, and sent for his son, for Alfonso 
desired to see him. He gave him the earl- 
dom of Chester, and promised to give him 
Irt'land and other possessions. Edward sailed 
from Portsmouth S9 May 1354, accompanied 
by hia mother, and under the care of the 
queen's uncle, Boniface of Savoy [n. v.], 
archbishop of Canterbury, reached Bordeaux 
l^.Tune, and Burgos 5 Aug. Hewosmarried 
to Eli-nnor at the end of October in the 
monastery of Las Huelgas, received knight- 
hood from King Alfonso, and then returned 
to Bordeaux. Henry gave the newly married 
yairGascony, Ireland, Wales, Bristol, Stam- 
lord, and Gmntham, so that he seemed no- 
thing liettor than a mutilated king (Paris, 
V. 450), and entered into an agreement that 
if Edward's income from these sources did not 
amount to fifteen thousand marks he would 
make it up to that sum {Ficdfra,'\.ViiB). Ed- 
ward remained in Gascony for about a year 
after bis father had left it. His wife came to 
England 13 Oct. IS.'i.'i, and ha followed her 
on 1.'9 Nov. : he was received by the Londoners 
with ri'joicing, and conductnd by them to the 
palsco at Westminstei (Liber de Ant. Leg, 
p. 33). 

Soon after his return to England the 
Gascon wine merchanla appealed to him to 

Crotect tlu-m against the extortions of the 
ing's ofTicera, Ho declared that he would 
not siifler them to be oppressed. The king was 
much grieved when ho heard of hia' words, 
saying that the times of Henry II had coma 
over again,fDrhis son had turned against him. 
Many expected that a serious quarrel would 
take place. Henry, however, gave war, and 
flrdered that the grievances of the merchanta 
should bo redressed. Nevertheless Edward 
deemed it advisable to increase his house- 
hold, and now rode with two hundred horses 
(Paris, v. G38). On 4 Juno 1350 he was at 
a tournament at BIythe, which he attended 
in light armour, for he went there to be fur- 
ther instructed in the laws of chivalry i^ih. 
p. 557), and in August he was with the king 



Edward I 



IS 



Edward I 



at London, where gii^at feasta were held in 
honour of the king and queen of the Scots. 
His devotion to the chivalrous exercises and 

Ceasures that became his a^e and station 
d him to neglect the admimstration of the 
vast estates and jurisdictions placed under 
his controL He trusted too much to his offi- 
cers, who were violent and exacting, and he 
was blamed for their evil doings. IS^or was 
he by any means blameless even as regards 
his own acts. His followers were mostly 
foreigners, and he did not restrain them from 
acta of lawlessness and oppression. At Wall- 
ingford, for example, they made havoc of the 
gcKxls of the priory, and illtreated the monks 
(ib, p. 5d3). And he set them a bad exam- 
ple, for Matthew Paris records as a specimen 
of his misdeeds how, apparently out of mere 
wanton cruelty, ho horribly mutilated a young 
man whom he chanced to meet, an act which 
moved Englishmen greatly, and made them 
look forward with dread to the time when ho 
should become kinpr {ib, p. 598). With a 
father who was a Frenchman in tastes and 
habits, with a Proven9al mother, and sur- 
rounded by foreign relations and followers, 
Edward in these his younger days is scarcely 
to be looked on as an Englishman, and his 
conduct is to be judged simply by the stan- 
dard of what was held to become a young 
French noble. In one part of his possessions 
it was specially dangerous to excite discontent. 
Among the grants made him by his father in 
1254 was the lordship of the Four Cantreds 
of Wales, the country that lay between the 
Conway and the Dee. Wales had long been 
a source of trouble to England, and her 
princes took advantage of every embarrass- 
ment that befell the English crown to add 
to its difficulties. As long as the country 
preserved its native laws and system of go- 
vernment it was impossiUe to reduce it to 
anything more than a state of nominal de- 
pendence, or to put an end to its power to do 
mischief. Moreover, as long as it remained vir- 
tually unconquered, the position of the lords 
marchers was almost that of petty sovereigns, 
and greatly weakened the authority of the 
crown. It is probable that Edward, young 
as he was, saw this, for he refused to recog- 
nise the native customs, and approved of an 
attempt made by one of his officers to enforce 
the introduction of English law. Unfortu- 
nately he did not see that this could only be 
carried oat after a military conquest which 
the maladministration of Henry rendered 
impoflsible, and he chose as his lieutenant 
Geoffrey Langley, a greedvand violent man, 
who believed that he could treat the Welsh 
as a tlioroiiglily conquered people, imposed 
a poll-tax of VUt* a head upon them, and 



tried to divide the land into counties and 
hundreds, or, in other words, to force the 
English system of administration upon them 
(Ann, Tewk. p. 158 ; Liber de Ant. Leg, p. 29). 
Llewelyn, the son of Gruffydd, took advan- 
tage of the discontent occasioned by these pro- 
ceedings, and on 1 Nov. invaded the marches, 
and especially the lands of Edward^s men. 
Edward borrowed four thousand marks of 
his uncle liichard to enable him to meet the 
Welsh,though as the winter was wet he was 
not able to do anything against them. The 
next year the Welsh invaded the marches 
with two large armies, and Edward applied 
to his father for help. * What have I to do 
with it ? ' the king answered ; *I have given 
you the land,* and he told him to exert him- 
self and strike terror into his enemies, for he 
was busy about other matters (Paris, v. 614). 
He made an expedition in company with his 
son, and stayed a w^hile at Gannoch Castle, 
but no good was done. Edward, in spite of 
his large income, was pressed for money to 
carry on the war, and in 1258 pledged some 
of his estates to William de Valence, his 
uncle, a step which was held to promise badly 
for his future reign, for William was the 
richest of the host of foreigners who preyed 
on the country. He also endeavoured to alien- 
ate the Isle of OUron to Guy of Lusignan, but 
this was forbidden by tho king, and he was 
forced a few days later to revoke his deed 
{Fcpdera, i. 663, 670). The Welsh made an 
alliance with the Scottish barons, and the war, 
which was shamefully mismanaged, assumed 
serious proportions, and added to the general 
discontent excited by the extravagance of the 
court and the general maladministration of 
the government. 

This discontent was forciblv expressed in 
the demand made by the parliament which 
met at Westminster in April, that the work 
of reform should be committed to twenty- 
four barons, and on the 30th Edward joined his 
father in swearing to submit to their decisions 
{Ann, Tewk, p. 164). A scheme of reform, 
which virtually put the government of the 
kingdom into the hands of a baronial council, 
was drawn up by the parliament of Oxford. 
Edward upheld his uncles in their refusal to 
surrender their castles ; he appears to have 
been constrained to accompany tho barons to 
Winchester, where his uncles were besieged 
in the castle, and did not swear to observe 
the provisions of Oxford until after they and 
the other aliens who held it had been forced 
to surrender. Four counsellors were appointed 
for him who were to carry out a reform of 
his household {Ann, Burt, p. 445). Some dis- 
agreement arose between Edward and his 
I father at Winchester, and a reconciliation 



Edward I 



i6 



Edward I 



was effected in the chapter-house of St. Swi- 
thun's {Ann. Winton, p. 97). During 1259 a 
reaction took place ; men found that the pro- 
visional government did not bring them all 
they hoped for, and a split arose in the ba- 
romal party between Simon, earl of Leicester, 
who was believed to be in favour of popu- 
lar reforms, and the Earl of Gloucester, the 
head of the oligarchical section. Edward ap- 
pears to have acted with Earl Simon at this 
period, for on 13 Oct., while the parliament 
was sitting at Westminster, a petition was 
presented to him by the * community of the 
bachelorhood of England,' that is by the 
knights, or the class of landholders immedi- 
ately below the baronage, pointing out that 
the bdrons had done nothing of all they had 
promised, and had merely worked * for their 
own good and the hurt of the king.' Edward 
repli^ that, though he had taken the oath 
unwillingly, he would abide by it, and that 
he was ready to die for the commonalty and 
the common weal, and he warned the barons 
that if they did not fulfil their oaths he would 
take part against them {Ann. Burt. p. 471). 
The result of this movement was the publi- 
cation of the provisions of Westminster. One 
of these renews a clause in the provisions of 
Oxford, in virtue of which four knights were 
to be appointed in each shire to remedy any 
injustice committed by the sheriff (i6. p. 477 ; 
Const. Hist. u. 81). Thus Edward skilfully 
used the lesser tenants in chief to check the 
baronage in their attempt to control the exe- 
cutive, and began a policy founded on the 
mutual jealousy of his opponents, which he 
was afterwards able to pursue with great 
effect. In return for the check he had re- 
ceived Gloucester appears to have persuaded 
Henry, who was in France early in 1260, that 
his son was plotting with Earl Simon to de- 
throne him. The king of the Romans (Ri- 
chard of Cornwall) held a meeting of barons 
in London, and a letter was sent to the king 
denying the rumour, and urging his return 
(WiKES,p.l24; Ann.IhinH.'[i.'2\^), Hecame 
back on 23 April, and shut himself up in 
London, refusing to see his son, who lodged 
in company with Simon between the city and 
Westminster (Liber de Ant. Leg. p. 45). At 
the same time his love for him was unabated. 
' Do not let mv son Edward appear before 
me,' he said, * fer if I see him I snail not be 
able to refrain myself from kissing him ' {Ann. 
Ihinst. p. 215). At the end of a fortnight 
they were reconciled, and the queen was gene- 
rally held to have caused their disagreement. 
The foremost part that Edward was thus 
taking put him, we are told, to vast expense. 
He now went off to France to a great tourna- 
ment, where he met withill8ucce88(t&.p.217). 



Although from this time he seems to have 
ceased to act in concert with Earl Simon, he 
kept up his quarrel with Gloucester until the 
earl's death in 1262. In that year he was 
again in France and Burgundy, in company 
with two of Leicester's sons, his cousins, was 
victorious in several tournaments, and badly 
beaten and wounded in one (tb, p. 219). 

Early in February 1263 Eaward, who was 
then in Paris, received a letter from his father 
urging him to return to England, for Llewelyn 
had taken advantage of the unsettled state of 
the country to renew his ravages. Edward 
hired a fine body of troops in France, and 
brought them over with him. Stopping only 
to put a garrison into Windsor, he advanced 
to Oxford, where the gates were shut against 
him. He then marched to Gloucester, and 
attacked the town, but though aided by a 
force from the castle was beaten off; he made 
his way into the castle by the river, using a 
ship belonging to the abbot of Tewkesbury. 
Some fighting took place, and on the ap- 
proach of Earl Ferrers, Edward, finding him- 
self overmatched, offered terms, and agreed 
to the barons' demands. On the retirement of 
their army he pillaged the town. (The order 
of events from this point almost down to the 
battle of Lewes is uncertain, and that adopted 
here must only be taken as an attempt to 
form a consecutive narrative.) Hoping to 
use Bristol as a basis of operations against the 
Welsh, and as a means of checking the new 
Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert of Clare, who was 
wholly on Leicester's side, he marched thither, 
and began to victual the castle. The towns- 
men came to blows with his foreign soldiers; 
he was forced to retreat into the castle, and 
was in some danger. Accordingly at the end 
of March he called Walter of Cantelupe 
[q. v.], bishop of Worcester, one of the hs^ 
ronial party, to help him, and the bishop under- 
took to bring him safely to London. On the 
way Edward,without giving him any warning, 
entered Windsor Castle on the plea of pro- 
viding for the safety of his wife. He came 
up to London to the parliament held on 
20 May. There Leicester and his party de- 
clared that he would be perjured if he did 
not abide by the provisions of Oxford, for 
they were indignant at his having brought a 
foreign force into the kingdom. He took up 
his quarters at the hospital at Clerkenwell, 
and, as he and his party were sorely in need 
of money, broke into the treasury of the 
Temple on 29 June, and took thence 1,000/. 
He made an attempt to relieve Windsor, which 
was threatened by Leicester, but the earl met 
him and, though he offered terms, detained him 
for a while by the advice of the Bishop of 
Worcesteri who remembered the trickthat nad 



Edward I 



17 



Edward I 



heen played upon him. Windsor surrendered 
on 26 July, and on 18 Aug. Edward agreed to 
terms that had heen arranged by the king 
of the Romans. From 19 Spt. to 7 Oct. he 
was with his father at Boulogne. On the 
fiEulure of the attempt at arbitration that was 
made there he returned to England, and at 
the parliament held on 14 Oct. he refused to 
agree to the barons' terms, complained that 
ISbltI Ferrers had seized three of his castles, 
and again took up his quarters at Windsor. 
He succeeded in winning over several barons 
to the royal side ; he was now fully recognised 
as head of the party, and he made a strict 
■alliance with the lords marchers (Wikes). 
In company with several of his new allies 
he joined the king in summoning the sur- 
render of Dover Castle on 4 Dec. The cas- 
tellan refused, and the royal forces retired. 
On the 10th he was party to the agreement 
to refer the question of the validity of the 
provisions to Lewis XI. Immediately after 
Christmas he set sail for France with his 
father. They had a stormy passage, and Ed- 
ward made many vows for his safety. On 
23 Jan. 1264 Lewis pronounced against the 
provisions. 

The barons were dissatisfied with the re- 
sult of the appeal, and Edward again made 
war in the marches ; he joined his father at 
Oxford, and on 5 April, in company with the 
king and his uncle Richard, attacked North- 
ampton. Simon de Montfort the younger, who 
defended the town, was taken prisoner, and 
would have been slain had not Edward for- 
bidden it. After wasting the lands of Earl 
Ferrers and levelling his castle of Tutbury, 
Edward marched towards London, for some 
of the citizens offered to deliver the city to 
him. Leicester prevented this, and the king's 
army encamped in great force before l-icwes. 
On 13 May Edward joined with the king of 
the Romans in sending a defiance to Lei- 
cester and Gloucester, who had now advanced 
with the baronial army to within a few miles 
of the town. In the battle of the next dav, 
Wednesday, 14th, Edward occupied the riglit 
of the army, and early in the morning charged 
the Londoners, who, under the command of 
Hastings, were passing by the castle where 
he was Quartered, in order to gain the town. 
They flea in confusion, and Edward, who was 
determined to take vengeance on them for the 
Insults they had put on his mother the year 
before, pursued them, it is said, for four miles, 
and cut down a large number of them (Ris- 
HAVOBB, p. 32 ; W1KB8, p. 151). As he 
Tettumed irom the pursuit he fell upon the 
enemy*B bamige, and spent much time in 
taking it. When, as late, it is said, as 2 p.m. 
('luque ad octayain horam/ Chron. Mailros, 

TOL. XTII. 



E 



. 196), he brought his men back to Lewes, 
e found that the battle was lost, that his 
father had taken refuge in the priory, and 
that his uncle was a prisoner. His men fled, 
and he and those who still followed him 
forced their way into the church of the Fran- 
ciscans (Ann, Wav. p. 357). By the capi- 
tulation that followed, he and his cousin, 
Henry of Almaine, were made hostages for 
their fathers* conduct. They were taken to 
Dover and were put under the care of Henry 
de Montfort, who treated them as captives, 
and ' less honourably than was fitting ' 
(Wikes, p. 153). Before long they were 
moved to Wallingford for greater safety. 
While Edward was there an unsuccessful 
attempt was made to rescue him (Kob. of 
Gloucester). He was afterwards lodged 
in Leicester's castle at Kenilworth, w^here he 
was during the following Christmas. While 
there he appears to have been treated honour- 
ably, for the countess was his aunt, and he 
was allowed to receive visitors, though he 
was closely watched. The subject of his re- 
lease was debated in the parliament held in 
London in January 1265, and on 8 March 
terms were finally a^ed upon which, while 
putting an end to his period of confinement, 
still left him helpless in Leicester's hands, 
and handed over to the earl the county of 
Chester and several of his most important 
possessions to be exchanged for other lands. 
A quarrel broke out between Leicester and 
Gilbert of Gloucester, and on 26 April Lei- 
cester made Edward march along with him 
to the town of Gloucester, for he thought it 
necessarv to take some measures to check 
Earl Gilbert, who was now in alliance with 
the Mortimers and otlier marchers. Edward 
was next taken to Hereford. He kept up 
an understanding with the marchers through 
his chamberlain, Thomas of Clare, the can's 
younger brother, and on 28 May effected his 
escape. He rode the horses of several of his 
attendants, one after another, as though to 
try their speed, and when he had tired them, 
mounted his own and rode away with Thomas, 
another knight, and four squires to the spot 
where Roger Mortimer was waiting for him, 
and was conducted in safety to Mortimer's 
castle at Wigmore. He entered into an alli- 
ance with Gloucester at Ludlow, swearing 
that if he was victorious he would cause 
* the ancient, good, and approved laws to be 
obeyed,' that he would put away the evil cus- 
toms that had of late obtained in the king- 
dom, and would persuade his father to remove 
aliens both from his realm and council, and 
not allow them to have the custody of castles 
or any part in the government. In other 
words, the direct control that had been exer- 





Edward I 



i8 



Edward I 



cised over t he k ing b^ the Earl of Leicester was 
to be done away with, the ancient powers of 
the crown were to be restored, ana the king 
was on his side to govern England by Eng- 
lishmen. Besides the marchers, several great 
nobles, Earl Warenne, William of Valence, 
Hugh Bigod, and others, now joined Edward, 
and his army was recruited from every quar- 
ter. Meanwhile, on 8 June, the bishops 
were ordered to excommunicate him and his 
adherents. Worcester was surrendered to 
him, he was master of the neighbouring 
towns and castles, and on 29 June he took 
Gloucester, after a stout resistance, allowing 
the garrison to depart with their arms and 
horses, and merely exacting a promise that 
they would not serve against him for a month. 
He broke down the bridges across the Severn 
and took away the boats, hemming Leicester 
in behind the line of the river, and cutting 
him off from his son, the younger Simon, 
who was raising troops in and about London. 
Hearing that the earl had sent to Bristol for 
transports to convey him from Newport to 
that town, ho went on board three galleys 
belonging to the Earl of Gloucester, and 
in his company dispersed the Bristol ships, 
taking and sinking several of them, and then 
landed and drove Leicester's force across the 
Usk into Newport, where they saved them- 
selves by breaking down the bridge (Wires, 
p. 167; RisuANGER, p. 43). Towards the 
end of July the younger Simon arrived at 
Kenilworth, and Leicester now hoped that 
he would be able to shut Edward and Glou- 
cester in between his jOwu force and that of 
hisson(^l?272. Pfrti;. p. 364). Edward, who was 
stationed at Worcester, sent the voung lord 
notice that * he would visit him, and being 
infonned byspies(WiKE8,p.l70; oneof these 
spies, according to HEMiNGBrRGH, i. 322, 
was a woman named Margot, who dressed 
in man's clothes) that the troops at Kenil- 
worth kept no strict watch, set out on the 
night of tlie 31st, and at dawn the next day 
surprised them in their quarters round the 
castle before they were out of their beds, 
and made so many prisoners that * the larger 
half of the baronial army was annihilated ' 
(Prothero, p. 356). On 3 Aug., hearing 
that the earl was making for Kenilworth, 
he left Worcester, and after advancing about 
three miles northwards, in order to deceive 
the enemy, turned to the east, crossed the 
Avon at Cleeve, and pressed on towards 
Evesham to intercept Leicester's army {ib. 
pp. 358-40). Mindful of the mistake he had 
made at Lewes» he now ordered his army 
with prudence (WiKES,p.l72),and detachecl 
a force under Gloucester to act in conjunc- 
tion with that which he himself commanded, 



and with which early on the 4th he began the 
battle. His victory' was complete, and the 
Earl of Leicester, his eldest son, Henry, and 
many nobles of their party were slain. 

The sweeping sentence of forfeiture pro- 
nounced against the rebels drove them to 
further resistance. Edward, who received 
the goods of the rebel citizens of London, 
captured Dover Castle probably in October, 
and in November marched with a consider- 
able force against the younger Simon, who 
with other disinherited lords had occupied 
the island of Axholme in Lincolnshire, and 
was ravaging the surrounding country. The 
position of the rebels was strong, and the 
attacking force had to make wooden bridges 
to enable them to reach the island, which was 
not surrendered unt il 28 Dec. Edward brought 
Simon to the council which his father was 
holding at Northampton, where he was sen- 
tenced to banishment. He then took him 
with him to London, and kept him at his 
court until he escaped, on 10 reb. 1266, and 
went to Winchelsea, where the men of the 
Cinque ports who adhered to his family were 
expect ing him. The king sent Edward to com- 
pel the submission of the ports. He defeated 
the Winchelsea men in a battle fought in 
their town on 7 March, and was persuaded 
to spare the life of their leader in the hope 
that he would persuade his fellow-rebels to 
return to their allegiance. This merciful 
policy was successful, and he received the 
submission of the ports On the 25th {Ann, 
Wav. p. 369 ; Liber de Ant Leg. p. 82). In 
the middle of May he was engaged in an ex- 
pedition against a disinherited knight named 
Adam Gurdon, one of the most mischievous 
of the many freebooters who infested the 
country. He came upon him in Whitsun 
week near Alton in Iiampshire. Gurdon, 
who was a man of great strength, had his 
band with liim, and Edward at the moment 
that he lighted on him was alone ; for he was 
separated from his men by a ditch. Never- 
theless, he at once engaged him single-handed, 
wounded him severely, and afterwards took 
him off to Windsor ( Wikes, p. 189 ; Trivet s 
story, p. 269, that Edward, delighted with 
Gurdon's valour, caused him to be reinstated 
in his lands and made him one of his friends 
and followers, seems mere romance). In the 
July of this year Eleanor, who had returned 
to England the previous October, bore Edward 
his first-born son, named John. All this time 
the disinherited lords in Kenilworth were 
still holding the castle against the king ; for 
hitherto the royal forces had been so much 
employed elsewhere that no great effort had 
been made to take it. At midsummer, how- 
ever, Edward joined his father in laying 



Edward I 



19 



Edward I 



siege to the castle. It was defended with 
extraordinary courage. All efforts to take it 
proved vain, and the king and his son, who 
had already been learning a lesson of mode- 
ration from the diihculties they had had to 
encounter, offered terms embodied in the 
* Ban of Kenilworth/ published on 31 Oct., 
which, though hard, wore nevertheless a re- 
laxation of the sentence of complete forfei- 
ture. The castle was surrenderea on 20 Dec. 
(AViKES, p. 196). 

Many of the baronial party were dissatis- 
fied with the Kenilworth articles, and early 
in 1267 Edward was called on to put down 
a rising in the north. John de Vescy, one 
of the rebel lords, had expelled the garrison 
from Alnwick Castle, which had once be- 
longed to him, and had now been taken from 
him, had occupied it and his other old pos- 
sessions, and had gathered round him a con- 
siderable number of northern magnates, each 
bound to help the rest to regain their lands. 
Edward at once ^thered a large force, 
marched against him, and pressed him so 
hard that he made an unconoitional submis- 
sion. Edward pardoned him, and the rest of 
the allied barons gave up their undertaking. 
It seems likely that he paid the visit to his 
sister Margaret, the queen of Scotland, spoken 
of in the * Chronicle of Lanercost' under 
1266, when he was in the north in the early 
part of this year. He met the queen at 
Haddington, the object of his visit being to 
bid her farewell; for he was then contem- 
plating a crusade. But it seems difficult to 
assign the date of the visit with any cer- 
tainty. He joined his father at Cambridge, 
and marched with him to London ; for the 
Earl of Gloucester, who since the publication 
of the Kenilworth articles had taken the side 
of the rebel lords, had occupied the citj, and 
was besieging the legato Ottoboni m the 
Tower. After some weeks the earl made his 
peace with the \dng. Meanwhile a strong 
body of the disinherited were occupying the 
Isle of Ely, and had done much damage in 
the eastern counties. Henry had been at- 
tempting to blockade them when he was 
called off to London, and the legate had ex- 
horted them to return to obedience to the 
church by accepting the Kenilworth articles. 
All attempts to compel or persuade them to 
snrrender nad been made in vain, and they had 
beaten off the ships that had been sent up the 
Ouse to attack them. Edward now marched 
from London against them. Their position 
seemed almost impregnable; for it was impos- 
sible to lead an army through the marshes 
without a thorough knowledge of the country, 
and it was easy to hold the &w approaches to 
the island. He made his headquarters at Ram- 



sey Abbey, and by promises and rewards pre- 
vailed on the people of the neighbourhood to 
come to his aid and to act as guides. More- 
over, he managed to establish an understand- 
ing with Nicolas Segrave, who allowed his 
men Ho pass the outposts which he guarded' 
(Prothebo). He also made causeways of 
wattles, and as it was a dry summer he was 
able to bring both horse and foot over them in 
safety, and to take up a position close to the 
island. Then he made a proclamation that 
he would either behead or hang any one who 
attacked any of his men or hindered him in 
any way; for he made no doubt of his success. 
This proclamation dismayed the defenders of 
the island. They submitted on 11 July, and 
were allowed the terms drawn up at Kenil- 
worth ( WiKES, pp. 207-10 ; Liber de Ant Leg, 
p. 95 ; Cont, Flor.Wig. pp. 199-201). Their 
surrender brought the struggle to a close. 
Never, probably, has so long and desperate a 
resistance to royal authority as that made by 
the disinherited been put down with the like 
moderation. And while the self-restraint of 
the victors must be attributed to some extent 
to the masterly policy pursued by the Earl of. 
Gloucester in occupying London, it was also 
largely due to the wisdom and magnanimity 
of Edward. By the age of twenty-eight he 
had not only long outgrown the thought- 
lessness of his earlv youth, but he had taken 
the chief part in "breaking up the powerful 
combination that had usurped the executive 
functions of the crown, had saved the royal 
authority alike by his prudence and his valour, 
and had succeeded in putting an end to an 
obstinate rebellion by refraining from acts 
that would have driven the vanquished to 
desperation, and by readily admitting them 
to the terms that had been established by 
law, no less than by the skill and energy 
which he displayed as a military leader. 

Later in the same year Edward visited 
Winchester, and went thence to the Isle of 
Wight, received its submission, and put it in 
charge of his own officers {Ann. Winton. p. 
106). During the autumn, in conjunction 
with his brother and his cousin, Henry of 
Almaine, he arranged and engaged in a large 
number of tournaments, so that though these 
sports had been forbidden by royal decree (by 
Henry II, see Williaji of Newburgii, v. 
c. 4) and by papal edict, there had not been so 
many held in England as there were that au- 
tumn for ten years and more (Wikes, p. 212). 
At the parliament held at Northampton on 
24 June 1268 Edward, in pursuance of a vow 
he and his father had made, received the 
cross, together with his brothers and many 
nobles, from the hands of the legate Ottoboni. 
In the November parliament ne was made 

c2 



Edward I 



20 



Edward I 



steward of England. He had already been 
appointed warden of the city and Tower of 
London in the spring, and in the autumn of 
this year he received the custody of all the 
royal castles (Ann, Winton, p. 107 ; Liber de 
Ant, Leg. p. 108). He held a grant from the 
king of the customs on all exports and im- 
ports, which he let to certain Italians for six 
thousand marks a year. These Italians levied 
the customs from the citizens of London, 
contrary to the privileges of the citv. A 
petition was therefore presented to Eclward 
by the Londoners complaining of these ex- 
actions, and in April 1209 he promised that 
they should cease, and receivea two hundred 
marks from the citizens as an acknowledg- 
ment. He further gained popularity by 
strenuously urging a statute, published in the 
Easter parliament, held at London, that the 
Jews should be forbidden to acquire the lands 
of Christ ians by means of pledges, and that the v 
should deliver up the deeas that they then held. 
The lat4? war had greatly impoverished the 
landholding classes, and their Jewish credi- 
tors were pressing them severely. The mea- 
sure was a wise one, because it helped to re- 
store prosperity, and so strengthened the 
probability of a continuance of peace ; and 
as the property of the Jews belonged to the 
king, it was a concession made to some ex- 
tent at the expense of the crown (Wires, 
p. 221 ). During this year Edward was busy 
in preparing for his crusade, and a large part 
of the subsidy of a twentieth lately imposed 
was voted to him for this purpose by the 
magnates and bishops. Some uneasiness was 
caused by the conduct of the Earl of Glou- 
cester, who refused to attend parliament, 
alleging that Edward was plotting to seize 
his person. He is said to have looked with 
suspicion on the intimacy between Edward 
and his countess, from whom he was after- 
wards divorced (Oxenedes, p. 236). Glou- 
cester's grievances were referred to the arbi- 
tration of the king of the Komans, and the earl 
then appears to have come up to the parlia- 
ment, and to have opposed some proposals that 
were made as to the expenses of the crusade, 
probably with reference to the appropriation of 
the twentieth (WiKES, p. 208 ; Ann, Winton. 
p. 108). Meanwhile Edward was invited 
by Lewis IX of France to attend his parlia- 
ment, in order to make arrangements tor the 
crusade, which they purposed to make to- 
gether. H«^ went to Gravesend on 9 Aug., 
and the next, day had a long interview with 
the king of tne Ilomans, who had just 
landed, on the subject of the crusade. He 
then went to Dover, where he embarked 
(Liber de Ant, Leg, p. 110). When Lewis 
urged him to go witii him he replied that 



England was wasted with war, and that he 
had but a small revenue. Lewis, it is said, 
offered him thirty-two thousand livres if he 
would consent ( Opus Chron, p. 26). An a«;ree- 
ment was made that the king should lend him 
seventy thousand livres, to be secured on Ed- 
ward's continental possessions, twenty-five 
thousand of that sum bein^ appropriated to 
the Viscount of Beam for his expenses in ac- 
companying him, and that Edward should fol- 
low and obey the king during the ' pilgrimage * 
as one of the barons of his realm, and send 
one of his sons to Paris as a hostage {Liber 
de Ant, Leg. pp. 111-14). He accordingly 
sent his son Henry to Lewis, who courteously 
sent him back at once (^Cont, Flor. Wig. 
p. 204 ; Floresy ii. 348). He landed at Dover 
on his return on 8 Sept., and was present at 
the magnificent ceremony of the translation of 
King Edward the Confessor at Westminster 
on 13 Oct. In July 1270, in conjunction 
with the Archbishop of York and other lords, 
and at the head of an armed force, he arrested 
John, earl Warenne, for the murder of 
Alan la Zouche. On 6 Aug. he went to 
Winchester, obtained the king's license to 
depart and took leave of him, and then came 
into the chapter-house of St. Swithun's and 
humbly asked the prayers of the convent. 
He set out thence, intending to embark at 
Portsmouth ; but hearing that the monks of 
Christ Church had refused to elect his friend 
and chaplain, llobert Bumell, to the arch- 
bishopric, he hastened to Canterbury in the 
hope that his presence would induce them to 
give way, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. 
He then went to Dover, where he embarked 
on 11 Aug., and sailed to Gascony, whither 
he had sent his wife on before him. His 
two Qons he left in charge of his uncle. King 
Richard. Passing through Gascony and some 
of the mountainous districts of Spain, he 
arrived at Aigues-Mortes at Michaelmas, and 
found that Lewis had already sailed for Tunis. 
When Edward landed on the African coast 
he found that Lewis was dead, and that his 
son Philip and the other chiefs of the crusade 
had made peace with the unbelievers. He 
was indignant at their conduct, and refused 
to be a party to it. ' By the blood of God,' 
he said, * though all my fellow-soldiers and 
countrymen desert me, I will enter Acre with 
Fowin, the groom of my palfrey, and I will 
keep my word and my oath to the death' 
( 0pu8 Chron. p. 29). lie and the whole force 
sailed from Africa on 21 Oct., and on the 28th 
anchored about a mile outside Trapani, the 
kings and other chiefs of the expedition being 
taken ashore in small boat«. Tne next morn- 
ing a violent storm arose, which did much 
duaage to the fleet. Edward's ships, how- 



Edward I 



21 



Edward I 



erer, thirteen in number, were none of them 
injured, and their escape was put down to 
a miraculous interposition of Providence to 
reward him for refusing to agree to the pro- 
posal of the other kings, that he should, like 
them, desist from his undertaking (Hehing- 
BUBeH, L 331-83 ; Wikbs, p. 329). He spent 
the winter in Sicily, and in the early spring 
of 1271 sailed for Syria, parting with his 
cousin Henry, whom he appointed seneschal 
of Gascony, and who was shortly afterwards 
slain at 'Viterbo by Simon and Guy de Mont- 
fort. After toucning at Cyprus to take in 
proyisions, he arrived at Acre, which was 
now closely besieged, in May. His army was 
small, consisting of not more than about one 
thousand men. He relieved the town, and 
about a month later made an expedition to 
Nazareth, which he took, slew all he found 
there, and routed a force which tried to cut 
him off as he returned. At midsummer he 
won another victory at Haifa, and advanced 
as far as Castle Pilgrim. These successes 
brought him considerable reinforcements. He 
sent to Cyprus for recruits, and a large body 
came over declaring, it is said, that they were 
bound to obey his orders, because his ancestors 
had ruled over them, and that they would 
ever be faithful to the kings of England 
(Hemingbubgh). a third expedition was 
made 1-27 Aug. Still his troops were too 
few to enable him to gain any material success, 
and these expeditions were little better than 
raids. In 1272 he received several messages 
from the emir of Jaffa, proposing terms of 
peace : they were brought bjr the same mes- 
senger, one of the sect, it is said, of the Assas- 
sins, who thus became intimate with Edward's 
household. In the evening of 17 June, his 
birthday, Edward was sitting alone upon 
his bed bareheaded and in his tunic, for the 
weather was hot, when this messenger, who 
had now come to the camp for the filth time, 
was admitted into his presence. The door of 
the room was shut, and the messenger, having 
delivered his master's letters, stood bending 
low as he answered the question that Edward 
asked him. Suddenly he put his hand in his 
belt, as though to produce other letters, pulled 
out a knife, whicn was believed to have been 
poisoned, and hit violently at Edward with 
It. Edward used his arm to shield his body 
from the blow, and received a deep wound in 
it ; then, as the man tried to strike him again, 
he gave him a kick that felled him to the 
ground. He seized the man's hand, wrenched 
the knife from him with so much force that it 
wounded him in the forehead, plunged it into 
the assassin's body, and so slew him. When 
his attendants, who had withdrawn to some 
distance, came running in, on hearing the 



noise of the scuffle, they found the man dead, 
and Edward's minstrel seized a stool and 
dashed out his brains with it. Edward re- 
proved him for striking the dead. The master 
of the Temple at once gave him some precious 
drugs to dnnk to counteract the effects of the 
poison, and the next day he made his will 
{Royal Wills, p. 18). After a few days the 
wound in his arm began to grow dark, and 
his surgeons became uneasy. * What are you 
whispering about ? ' he asked ; * can I not be 
cured P ' One of them, an Englishman, said 
that he could if he would undergo great suffer- 
ing, and declared that he woula stake his life 
on it. The king then said that he put him- 
self in his hands, and the surgeon having 
caused the queen, who was crying loudly, to 
be removed from the room, the next morning 
cut away the whole of the darkened flesh, 
telling his lord that within fifteen days he 
would be able to mount his horse ; and his 
word came true. The story that Eleanor 
sucked the poison from the wound seems 
to lack foundation [see under Eleanob op 
Castile]. When the sultan Bibars, who was 
suspected of being concerned in this attempt, 
heard of its miscarriage, he sent three am- 
bassadors to declare that he had no hand in it. 
As they made repeated salaams to Edward, 
he said in English, ' You pay me worship, but 
you have no love for me.' The incident proves 
that in spite of his French taste and feelings, 
shown, for example, in his delight in tourna- 
ments, Edward const antly spoke P^nglish. He 
found that he could not achieve any material 
success in Palestine, his men were suffering 
from sickness, and he knew that his father^ 
health was failing. Accordingly he made a 
truce for ten years with the sultan, and on 
15 Aug. set sail for Sicily. He landed at Tra- 
pani alter, it is said, a voyage of seven weeks. 
He was entertained by King Charles, and 
while he was in Sicily neard of the deaths of 
his father on 10 Nov., of his uncle Kichard, 
and of his first-bom son, John. On the day 
of Henry's funeral, 20 Nov., the Earl of 
Gloucester, in accordance with a promise he 
had made to the late king, and the barons 
and bishops of the realm, swore fealty to 
Edward as their king. The magnates of the 
kingdom recognised and declared his right 
to succeed his father, and thus for the first 
time the reign of a sovereign of England 
began from the death of his preaecessor^ t nough 
the doctrine that the *king never dies' was 
not propounded until a later age (Stubbs, 
Constitutional Hist, ii. 103). 

Edward was tall and well made, broad- 
chested, with the long and nervous arms of a 
swordsman,and with long thighs that gripped 
the saddle firmly. His forehead was ample. 



Edward I 



22 



Edward I 



and his face Bhapely, and he inherited from 
his father a peculiar droop of the left eyelid. 
In youth his hair was so light that it had 
only a shade of yellow, in manhood it was 
dark, and in age of snowy whiteness. Al- 
though his voice was indistinct, he spoke with 
fluency and persuasiveness. He excelled in 
all knightly exercises, and was much given 
to hunting, especially to stag-hunting, and 
hawking (Trivet, p. 281 sq. ; Hemingbubgh, 
ii. 1 ). firave, and indeed rash as regards his 
own safety, he was now an experienced leader; 
he was prudent in counsel, ready in devising, 
and prompt in carrj'ing out whatever mea- 
sures the exigencies of the moment seemed 
to demand. His word was always sacred to 
him, and he was ever faithful to the motto, 
* Pactum serva,* that appears upon his tomb. 
At the same time he dia not scruple when in 
difficulties to make subtle distinctions, and 
while keeping to the letter he certainly some- 
times neglected the spirit of his promises. 
He was hasty, quick to take oftence, and to- 
wards the end of his life hard and stem, 
though he was not wantonly cruel. No 
one probably ever learnt more from adver- 
sitv. By his absence from England he en- 
abled men to forget old feelings of bitterness 
against him ; he returned when the country 
was prepared for the restoration of orderly 
administration, fully determined to supply 
its needs. And he did not simply restore, 
he reorganised. He was * by instinct a law- 
giver.' The age was strongly aifected by the 
study of civil law, and he kept Francesco 
Accursi, the son of the famous legist of Bo- 
logna, in his service. He was skilful in 
arrangement, in definition, and in finding 
remedies and expedients in materials already 
at hand. His laws were for the most part 
founded on principles previously laid down, 
which he worked out and applied to the pre- 
sent wants of the nation. It was the same 
with all his constitutional and administra- 
tive reforms. He carried on the work that 
had been taken in hand by Henry II, deve- 
loped its character, and organised its methods. 
Everj'where he freed the state from the action 
of feudal principles, and encouraged, and may 
almost be said to have created, national poli- 
tical life. He wos the founder of our par- 
liamentary system, yet in this as in most 
else his work was the completion of a process 
that liad long been going forward. In his 
hands the assembly of the nation ceased to 
have a feudal character ; the lords are no longer 
a lotise gathering of the greater tenants in 
chief, but a definite body of hereditary peers 
summoned by writ, and the clergy ana the 
commons appear by their representatives. 
Rights and duties were clearly laid down. 



and in all his reforms there is conspicuous 
an extraordinary power of adapting * means 
to ends.' Yet great as the benefits are which 
he conferred on the nation, he loved power 
and struggled for it, generally unsuccessfully, 
for the means of self-government that he or- 
ganised and placed in the hands of the nation 
were turned against him, and were more 
than once sufficient to thwart his will. These 
struggles led him to take advantage of quibbles 
that naturally suggested themselves to his 
legal mind. At the same time if he had not 
striven for power he would not have been a 
strong man, or done so great a work. (On Ed- 
ward s legislative and constitutional work 
see Bishop Stubbs's Comtttutional History, 
vol. ii. c. 14, 15; and Early Flantayenets, 
p. 202 s(j.) 

The kingdom was in good hands, and Ed- 
ward did not hasten home. Aft^r all that 
had ha];)pened he probably judged wisely in 
prolonging his absence. From Sicily he 
passed through Apulia, and went to Home 
to visit Gregory X, who before his elevation 
had been with him on the crusade. He was 
received by the pope at Orvieto on 14 Feb. 
1273, obtained a grant of the tenths of the 
clergy for three years to reimburse him for 
his crusading expenses, which pressed heavily 
on him, and stirred up Gregory to proceed 
a^inst Guy de Montfort for the murder of 
his cousin. As he passed through Tuscany 
and Lombardy he was received with mucn 
honour by the cities to which he came, and 
saluted with cries of *Ijong live the Em- 
peror Edward ! ' {Fiores, ii. 353). He crossed 
Mont Cenis 7 June, and forced a robber 
knight of Burgundy, who owned no lord, to 
become a vassal of the Count of Savoy. On 
the 18th he came to S. Georges les ifieneins, 
near Lyons, and about this time engaged in 
a mel6e with the Count of Chalons. He re- 
ceived the count's challenge in Italy, and 
sent for divers earls and barons from Eng- 
land to come to him, so that he was at the 
head of a thousand picked men. The count 
singled him out, and strove to drag him from 
his horse, but was himself unhorsed. Then 
the fighting became serious, and the Bur- 
gundians, though superior in numbers, were 
defeated. Something more than a mere chi- 
valrous encounter was evidently intended 
from the first, and the affair was called the 
'little battle of Chalons* (Hemingbubgh, 
i. 337-40). Edward reached Paris on the 
26th, and did homage to Philip HI for the 
lands he held of him. On 8 Aug. lie left 
Paris for Gascony, where Gaston of Beam 
was in revolt, and stayed there nearly a year. 
During a good part of this time he was en- 
gaged in an unsuccessful war with Gaston^ 



Edward I 



23 



Edward I 



losing both men and horses from want of 
food and other privations in the difficult 
country in which his enemy sheltered him- 
self, Once he made G^aston prisoner, but he 
escaped again, and he finauv referred the 
quarrel to his lord the king of France. Gas- 
ton was afterwards sent over to England by 
Philip, made submission, and was for about 
four years kept in honourable confinement. In 
July 1274 Edward met the Count of Flan- 
ders at Montreuil, and arranged a dispute 
which had put a stop to the exportation of 
English wool to Flanders (Fceaeray ii. 24- 
32). He landed at Dover 2 Aug., was en- 
tertained by Gilbert of Gloucester and John 
of Warenne in their castles of Tonbridge 
And Keigate {Fhresy ii. 363), reached Lon- 
don on the 18th, and on the next day, Sun- 
day, was crowned with Eleanor at West- 
minster by Archbishop llobert Kilwardby. 
At the coronation he received the homage 
of Alexander of Scotland, but Llewelyn of 
AVales neglected the summons to attend. As 
many irregularities had been occasioned by 
the civil war, Edward on 11 Oct. appointed 
commissioners, with Bumell, bishop of Bath 
and Wells, whom he made his chancellor, at 
their head, to inquire into the state of the 
royal demesne, the rights of the crown, and 
the conduct of the lords of private franchises. 
The result of their inquiries is presented in 
the Hundred Rolls (pref. to Rot, Hundred, i.) 
At the beginning of November he proceeded to 
Shrewsbury, where he had summoned Llew- 
elyn to meet him, but the prince did not at- 
tend {Fvpdera, ii. 41). Li a great parliament, 
held at Westminster on 22 April 1276, the 
Icing ' by his council,' and by the assent of 
his lords and * of all* the commonalty of 
the land,' promulgated the * Statute of West- 
minster the First,' a body of fifty-one chap- 
ters or laws, many of which were founded 
on the Great Charter {Statutes at Large, 
i. 74 ; Select Charters, p. 438). In return he 
received a grant of the customs on wool, 
woolfels, and leather, now for the first time 
made the subject of constitutional legislation, 
and in the parliament of 18 Nov. demanded 
a fifteenth from the laity, and asked for a 
■subsidy from the clergy as a matter of grace, 
for they were already charged with the papal 
grant of a tenth. He further forbade the 
Jews to practise usury, and commanded that 
they should live by merchandise. On 1 7 April 
he and the aueen went on pilgrimage to Bury 
St. Edmuncts in pursuance of a vow made in 
Palestine. During the summer he suifered 
much from the efiScts of the wounds he had 
leceived from the assassin at Acre, and these 
probably had caused a serious abscess with 
which ne was troubled in the November pre- 



vious. He was received at Oxford on 28 July 
with great pomp by the few clerks that were 
then there and by the citizens, but would not 
enter the city for fear of incurring the wrath 
of St. Frideswide (VViXES,p. 264). He went 
to Chester on 8 Sept.in order to meet Llewelyn, 
who refused to attend, was summoned to the 
forthcoming parliament, and again made de- 
fault (Foadera, ii. 67 ; Ann, Wigom, p. 468). 
In the Easter parliament of 1270 Edward 
ordered that the charters should bo observed, 
and fully pardoned the * disinherited.' With 
this policy of pacification is to be connected 
his presence at the translation of llichard of 
Chichester on 16 June and his gifts at tho 
shrine, for the bishop had been wronged by 
his father. He received a message from Llew- 
elyn offering to ransom his affianced bride, 
Eleanor do Montfort, who had fallen into the 
king's hand. As, however, he refused to restore 
the lands he had taken, and to repair the castles 
he had destroyed, his otter was refused. During 
the autumn the Welsh were troublesome, and 
Edward was at Gloucester on 28 Sept. and 
Evesham on 1 Oct. to take measures against 
them. On 1 Nov. he sent a body of knights 
to keep order in the marches, and on the r2th 
it was agreed by common consent of the 
bishops, barons, and others * that the king 
should make war on the Welsh with the force 
of the kingdom,' which was ordered to meet 
him the following midsummer (Foadera, ii. 
68). In the October parliament the statutes 
'de Bigamis' and of * Kageman ' were passed 
(Statutes, i. 115 ; ^Coiistitutional History, ii. 
1 10). The king conducted the Welsh war in 
person, and moved the exchequer and king's 
bench to Shrewsbury. About 24 June he pro- 
ceeded to Chester, had the woods cut down 
between Chester and the Snowdon country, 
and built the castles of Flint and Khuddlan. 
Although many Welsh submitted to him, 
Llewelyn believed his position to be im- 
pregnable. Edward marched from Chester 
31 July ; Anglesey was taken by the fleet of 
the Cinque ports, and on 11 Nov. Llewelyn 
made his submission at Khuddlan; he ceded 
tlie Four Cantreds, received Anglesey back 
at a rent of one thousand marks, promised to 
pay fifty thousand marks for peace, and to do 
homage in England, gave hostages, and was 
allowed to retain tho homages of Snowdonia 
for his life. The payments were remitted, 
and the hostages restored {Fwdera, ii. 88-92). 
His brother David, who had fought for Ea- 
ward, was rewarded with lands and castles, 
was knighted, and received the daughter of 
the Earl of Derby in marriage. Llewelyn did 
homage and spent Christmas with the king 
at London ; and the troubles with Wales, 
which had lasted more or less from Edward's 



Edward I 



24 



Edward I 



youthy appeared settled at last. Edward's 
Welsh castles belong to the class named 
after him ' Edwardian castles/ for, though 
he was not the inventor of the style of forti- 
fication that marks them, he usecl it largely. 
They are built on the concentric principle, 
having two or three lines of defence, with 
towers at the angles and on the walls, and 
so arranged that * no part is lefl to its own 
defences (Mediesval Military Architecture, 
i. 157). With this war. in Wales must 

Srobably be connected the visit paid by 
dward and his queen to Glastonbury on 
13 April 1278. The tomb of Arthur was 
opened on the 19th, and the relics were trans- 
lated, Edward carrying the bones of Arthur, 
and Eleanor the bones of Guinevere (Adam 
OF DoHERHAH, p. 588). The war had been 
expensive, and on 26 June Edward issued a 
writ compelling all who had a freehold estate 
of 20/. to take up knighthood or pay a fine, 
a measure that did much to blend the lesser 
tenants-in-chief with the main body of free- 
holders. A few days later the parliament at 
Gloucester assented to the Statute of Glou- 
cester, founded on the report in the Hundred 
Kolls, to amend the working of territorial 
jurisdictions'; and proceeding on this statute 
and the report, Edward in August issued 
writs of ' Quo warranto,' which called on 
the lords to show by what warrant they held 
their jurisdictions, a measure that occasioned 
some discontent amon^ them (Statutes, i. 
117 ; IIemingburgii, ii. 5). Llewelyn did 
not attend the Gloucester parliament, and 
Edward went to the marches on 1 Aug. 
and received his homage. On 29 Sept. he 
received the homage of Alexander of Scot- 
land at Westminster (Fa'dera, ii. 126 ; Ann. 
Wav, p. 370), and with him and the queen 
and many nobles attended the marriage of 
Llewelyn and Eleanor de Montfort at Wor- 
cester on 13 Oct. In November the king 
caused all the Jews throughout the king- 
dom to be arrested, and on 7 Dec. extended 
this order to the goldsmiths, on the charge 
of coining and clipping the coin. In April 
1279 ho had 267 Jews hanged in London, 
and gave notice of the forthcoming issue 
of round coins, appointing places where the 
old coins might be exchanged at a settled 
rate. 

On the resignation of Archbishop Kil ward- 
by in 1278, Edward procured the election of 
his friend and minister, llobert Burnell, and 
sent envoys to Rome to beg the pope to con- 
firm the election. His request was refused, 
and Nicolas III gave the see to John Peck- 
ham. The death of the queen's mother, to 
whom the county of Ponthieu belonged, 
obliged Edward and the queen to visit Paris 



on 11 May 1279. Edward did homage to 
Philip for Ponthieu, and definitely surren- 
dered all claim to Normandy (Ann. Mlgom, 
E. 477 ; Fosdera, IL 135). While at Amiens 
e met Peckham on his way to England, and 
received him graciously (P^bxHAir, Heff, i. 6) ; 
he returned on 19 June. Peckham soon 
ofiended the king, for in his provincial coun- 
cil at Heading he ordered the clergy to post 
copies of the Great Charter on the doors of 
cathedral and collegiate churches, and to ex- 
communicate all who obtained writs from the 
king to hinder ecclesiastical suits or neglected 
to carry out ecclesiastical sentences. Edward 
naturally took these decrees as an insult, and 
in the Michaelmas parliament forced Peck- 
ham to renounce them. He further replied 
to the archbishop's challenge by the statute 
* De Religiosis ' or of ' Mortmain,' passed on 
15 Nov. by the parliament at Westminster, 
a measure which preserved the rights of the 
superior lords and of the crown, as lord- 
paramount, against the church, and which 
was a development of one of the pro\'ision8 
of U69 {Statutes, i. 133; Ann. Wav. p. 392; 
Cotton, p. 158; Select Charter*, p. 448; Const, 
Hist. ii. 112). And he also demanded a 
fifteenth from the spiritualities. In these 
measures Edward was not acting in a spirit 
of revenge, for the next year, when he re- 
monstrated with Peckham for holding a visi- 
tation of the royal chapel, he accepted the 
archbishop's assertion of his right. Findings 
however, that Peckham was about to issue 
canons in a council held at Lambeth in Sep- 
tember 1281 that would have removed causes 
touching the right of patronage and other 
spiritual matters from the courts of the crown,, 
he peremptorily interfered, and the arch- 
bishop was compelled to give way (Wikes, 
p. 285; WiLKiNs, ii. 50). On 9 June 1280 he 
attended a general chapter of the Dominicans 
held at Oxford. In the course of the last 
year he had issued a decree pronouncing that 
all Jews guilty of irreverence and all apo- 
states to Judaism should be punished with 
death, and now, at the persuasion of the 
Dominicans, he ordered that the Jews should 
be forced to listen reverently to certain ser- 
mons that were to be preached for their edi- 
fication. In September of this year he was 
at Lanercost, and held a great hunting in 
Inglewood Forest {CTiron. Lanercost, p. 106). 
W^hile Edward was keeping Easter at De- 
vizes in 1282, news was Drought him that 
Llewelyn and David, whom he had loaded 
with favours, had rebelled against him, had 
taken his castles, slain a multitude of people, 
and carried ofi* Roger Clifibrd, the constable 
of Hawarden, as a prisoner. At first he could 
not believe what he heard, bat he soon found 



Edward I 



25 



Edward I 



that it was true (Tyvoysogiony p. 873 ; Ann, 
Wav, p. 898 ; Wikes, p. 288). He summoned 
the barons to meet him at Worcester at AVhit- 
sontide, 6 April, and the bishops and knights 
to assemble at Rhuddlan on 2 Aug., and 
aeain moved the exchequer to Shrewsbury. 
Moreover he sent to Gascony for help from ms 
subjects there. He made his headauarters 
at Khuddlan, "and ravaged Llewelyn s lands 
during August. Roads were made through 
the woods, the fleet of the Cinque ports again 
attacked Anglesey, and a bridge was begun 
across the straits. Edward's army met with 
some severe reverses, and on 6 Nov., when 
an attack was treacherously made by some 
nobles during the progress of negotiations, 
the Welsh routed the attacked force, and 
many were drowned in the Menai (Ann, 
Osen. p. 289). Encouraged by his success 
Llewelyn left Snowdonia, and was slain in a 
skirmish on 10 Dec. in Radnor ; his head was 
brought to Edward, who had it sent to London 
and exposed on the Tower. He spent Christ- 
mas at Rhuddlan, and finished his bridge. 
The war taxed Edward's resources severely, 
and in March he caused to be seized the money 
that, in accordance with a decree of the council 
of Lyons, had been collected for a crusade 
and stored in the cathedral churches. This 
provoked an indignant letter from Martin IV. 
J^fore its arrival, however, the king had pro- 
mised that the money should be refunded, and 
Peckham went off to meet him at Acton Bur- 
nell, and prevailed on him to make immedi- 
ate restitution {Registrum Peckham^ ii. 635 
80.) At Easter he was at Aberconway, 
wnere he built one of his famous castles. 
Wales was now thoroughly subdued, and the 
two most precious treasures of the Welsh, 
the crown of Arthur and a piece of the true 
cross, were brought to the conoueror. David 
was delivered up by the Welsn on 22 June, 
and taken to Eaward at Rhuddlan, but the 
king would not see him. He determined 
' that he should be tried before a full repre- 
sentation of the laity ' {Const, Hist, ii. 116), 
and accordingly summoned a parliament to 
meet at Shrewsbury at Michaelmas, consist- 
ing of the baronage, two knights from each 
county, and representatives from certain cities 
and boroughs ; the clerical estate was not re- 
presented, as the business concerned a capital 
offence. David was tried by a judicial com- 
mission before his peers, condemned, and 
sentenced to be drawn, hanged, beheaded, 
disembowelled, and quartered, a hitherto 
unheard-of sentence {Ann, Osen, p. 294). A 
few days later, at Acton Bumell, Edward put 
forth an ordinance, called the ' Statute of Ac- 
ton Bumell/ which had been drawn up by 
Yam and his council for securing the debts of 



traders by rendering the profits of land liable 
for the same. He spent Christmas at Rhudd* 
Ian, on 9 Jan. 1284 was at York at the con- 
secration of his clerk, Antony Bek, to the 
see of Durham, then held a parliament at 
Lincoln, and was again at Rhuddlan at mid- 
Lent, when he put forth the laws which are 
called the ' Statute of Wales,' though they 
were not the result of parliamentary delibera- 
tion (Const. Hist, ii. 117). By this statute 
the administration of the country was to some 
extent assimilated to the English pattern ; in 
certain districts sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs 
were appointed, though the jurisdiction of the 
marchers was still preserved in other parts^ 
the English criminal law was to be in lorce, 
while in most civil matters the Welsh were 
allowed to retain their old customs. In the 
summer Edward celebrated his conquest by 
holding a * round table ' at Newyn in Car- 
narvonshire, near the sea ; the festivities cost 
a large sum, and were attended by a crowd of 
knights, both from England and from abroad 
{Ann, Wav, p. 402 ; Ann, Dunst. p. 313). He 
spent Christmas at Bristol, where he held 
a * singular, not a general, parliament,' con- 
sisting simply of certain specially summoned 
nobles {Ann. Osen, p. 300). Thence he went 
to London, where he was received with great 
rejoicing, for he had not been there for nearly 
three years {Ann, Wav, p. 402). 

A summons from Philip IH to render him 
such assistance in his war with Peter HI of 
Aragon as was due by reason of his tenure of 
Gascony put Edward in some difficulty, for 
he was by no means anxious for the aggran- 
disement of France. However, he went ta 
Dover as though to embark. While there 
the illness of his mother gave him an excuse 
for remaining at home, and he passed Lent 
in Norfolk and Suffolk {Ann. Osen. p. 300 ; 
Tkivet, p. 310). This year is marked by the 

* culminating point in Edward's legislative 
activity* {Const. Hist, ii. 118). In the mid- 
summer parliament, held at Westminster, he 
published the collection of laws known as the 

* Statute of Westminster the Second ' {Sta-^ 
tutes, i. 163), the first chapter of which, called 

* De Donis Conditionalibus,' the foundation 
of estates tail, restricting the alienation of 
lands, probably shows the influence of the 
nobles. Other chapters deal with amend- 
ments of the law relating to dower, advow- 
sons, and other matters. The whole forms a 
code, the importance of which did not escape 
the notice of contemporary chroniclers (Ann, 
Osen, p. 304 ; Statutes, i, 164). It was probably 
during this parliament, which lasted for the 
unusually long period of seven weeks, that 
Edward dealt decisively with the question of 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction that had been in 



Edward I 



26 



Edward I 



dispute ever since the reign of Uenry II, and 
his action in this matter should be compared 
with the policy of that kin^ as expressed in 
the Constitutions of Clarendon. Lndaunted 
by previous defeats Peckham evidently in- 
stigated the bishops of his province to present 
a petition to the crown against the sum- 
mary conclusion of ecclesiastical suits by royal 
prohibition. Edward, however, limited the 
sphere of clerical jurisdiction to matrimonial 
and testamentary cases, and afterwards re- 
laxed this by issuing the writ * Circumspecte 
agatis,' which clearly defines the cases which 
were to be entertained by ecclesiastical courts 
(StatuteSfi. 242 ; Ann, IJunst p. 317 ; Cotton, 
p. 1G6 ; C<mst. Hist, ii. 119). In the Statute 
of Winchester, published in the October par- 
liament, the king revived and developed the 
ancient laws relating to police organisation, 
and to the obligation of keeping arms for the 
public service, and applied them to the needs 
of the time by converting them into a com- 
plete system for the protection of persons and 
property, for the capture of oftenders, and for 
the establishment of the liability of districts 
for losses sustained through the failure of 
their police arrangements (Select Charters^ 
p. 459). 

In a parliament consisting of ecclesiastical 
and civil magnates, held on 23 April 1286, 
Edward announced his intention ot going to 
France. His presence was required in Gas- 
cony, though the immediate cause of his de- 
parture was to act as mediator in the long 
quarrel between the French and the Arago- 
nese for the jwssession of Sicily. Edward 
had now for some years been looked on as the 
most fitting arbitrator in this matter. AVhen, 
in 1 282, Charles of Anjou and Peter of Aragon 
agreed to decide their dispute by a combat, 
in which each was to be supported by one 
hundred knights, they fixed the place of meet- 
ing at Bordeaux, and selected Edward as 
judge. On 6 April 1283 Martin IV wrote, 
forbidding him to allow the encounter, and 
Edward sent ambassadors with letters to 
Charles and Peter, declaring that * if he could 
gain Aragon and Sicily * by it he would not 
allow it (Fcoflera, ii. 226, 240, 241). Finally, 
while refusing to have anything to do with 
the matter, he ordered the seneschal of Bor- 
deaux to put the city at the disposal of the 
Angevin prince. He mediated unsuccessfully 
in 1284 between Philip III and Peter, and 
the king of Aragon hoped to engage him on 
his side. Edward, however, while anxious 
to prevent the increase of the power of France 
at the expense of Aragon, which would have 
endangered his possession of Gascony, would 
not be drawn into war beyond the sea. The 
captivity of Charles tJie Lame and the deaths 



of Peter and Philip III opened the way for 
fresh negotiations, and Philip IV, the sons of 
Charles, and the nobles of Provence all in- 
voked the interference of the king of England 
(ib. ii. 317, 818). Edward sailed on 23 May, 
leaving the kingdom in charge of his cousin 
Edmund, and taking with him the chancellor 
and many nobles {Ann, Osen, p. 306). He 
was honourably received bvPhibp, did homage 
to him at Amiens, and then went with hmi 
to Paris. After obtaining the settlement of 
several questions connected with his forei^ 
possessions and rights, he left Paris at Whit- 
suntide and proceeded to Bordeaux, where he 
repressed some disaffection among the citizens 
with considerable sharpness (HEMiyGBUBOH, 
ii. 16). He then held a congress at Bordeaux, 
which was attended by representatives of the 
kings of Aragon, France, Uastile and Majorca, 
and two legates, and on 25 July arranged a 
truce between France and Aragon {Fcedera, 
ii. 330). Finding, however, that it was im- 
possible to make terms which would be ac- 
ceptable both to Honor ius IV and to James 
of Sicily, he persuaded Alfonso of Aragon to 
treat apart from his brother James, and on 
15 July 1287 met Alfonso at OUron, and 
made a treaty for the liberation of Charles 
and for a future peace. At the same time the 
project of a marriage between Alfonso and 
Edward's daughter Eleanor, which had for 
some years been hindered by papal interfe- 
rence, exercised on behalf of the Angevin in- 
terest, was confirmed by the kings. When 
Edward re-entered Gascony he suflered from 
a short though severe illness at Blanquefort, 
and on his recovery returned to Bordeaux, 
where he again tooK the cross, was appointed 
by the lofrate the captain of the christian army 
(Ann. U'(n\'p, 404), and expelled the Jews 
from Gascony and his other continental do- 
minions. The treaty of 016ron was pronounced 
unsatisfactory by Nicolas IV (Foederaj iL 
358), and in 1288 Edward agreed to a treaty 
at Campofranco, which secured the liberation 
of Charles on the payment of twenty thou- 
sand marks, of which ten thousand were 
lent him by Edward, along with his bond 
for seven thousand more, on the delivery 
of Eii<;lish hostages and on other condi- 
tions (iV>. p. 368 sq.) The war, however, 
was renewed, and in 1289 Edward sent Odo 
Grandison with a sharp reproof to Nicolas 
for encouragmg warfare among christian kings 
when the infidels were triumphing over the 
cause of the cross in Syria (Amari). Mean- 
while in a parliament held on 2 Feb. the lords 
refused a grant, and the Earl of Gloucester, 
speaking for the rest, declared that they would 
ffrant no more money ' until they saw the 
king's face In England again ' (Wikes, p. 316). 



Edward I 



27 



Edward I 



It was evidently high time that Edward re- 
turned, and he landed at Dover on 12 Aug. 
On his return he received man^ hitter com- 
plaints of the ill-doings of the judc^s in his 
ahsence, and on 13 Oct. appointed a com- 
mission to inquire into their conduct. Wey- 
landy one of the chief justices, fled to the 
Franciscan priory at Bury St. Edmunds, and 
assumed the monastic dress. Edward or- 
dered that he should be starved into sub- 
mission, and allowed him to escape trial by 
ffoing into perpetual banishment. All the 
jud^s save two were found guilty of various 
misdemeanors, were fined, and dismissed from 
office (^7171. Dunst, p. 355 sq.) Before the 
end of the year Edward visited his mother, 
who had during his absence taken the veil at 
Amesbury, and also made visits of devotion 
to the shrines of St. Thomas the Martyr, St. 
Edmund, and many other saints. He was a 
man of strong religious feelings : in times of 
difficulty he made vows, and on his return 
from any long journey or after any deliverance 
from danger he never failed to offer thanks 
publicly in one or more of the great churches 
of the kingdom. He appears to have usually 
passed Lent in more or less retirement in 
some of the great monasteries, and he cer- 
tainly took pleasure in attending religious 
ceremonies, such as the consecration of bi- 
shops. At the same time his love of truth 
and his manliness of character kept him from 
giving countenance to superstition or impos- 
ture. On one of his visits to his mother at 
Amesbury, he found her in a state of high 
excitement over a man who pretended that he 
had been cured of blindness at the tomb of her 
late husband. King Henry. Edward knew that 
the man was lying, and told his mother so, 
which angered her so much that she bade him 
leave her room. King as he was, he obeyed her 
without a word, and as he went out met the 
provincial of the Dominicans, a man of much 
theological learning and one of his intimate 
friends. ' I know enough of my father's justice,' 
he said to him, ' to be sure that he would 
rather have torn out the eyes of this rascal 
when they were sound than have given sight 
to such a scoundrel* (Tbivet). He spent 
Christmas at Westminster, held a parliament 
there early the next year, and on 23 April 
married his daughter Joan to his old enemy, 
Gilbert, earl of Gloucester. This marriage 
suggested to him a means of raising money, 
of which he was in constant need, though the 
heavy fines he had laid on the judges had 
lately swelled his treasury (^n;i. 0«cw.p. 321). 
In a parliament held on 29 May, which con- 
sisted only of bishops and lay lords, he ob- 
tained leave to levy an aid purJUle marier of 
40». on the knight's fee. This tax fell only 



on the tenants in chief who were held to be 
represented by the magnates (Select Charters^ 
p. 460) . A second parliament was held in July , 
to which the king summoned two knights from 
each shire. A week before the day on which 
the knights were to come to Westminster, and 
while the parliament therefore consisted only 
of the magnates of the kingdom, Edward, at 
the request of the lords, published the statute 
* Quia emptores,' forbidding subinfeudation ; 
land alienated by a tenant, either in chivalry 
or socage, was to be held by feoffee not of the 
alienor but of the capital lord, and by the same 
services as it had been held by tne feoffor. 
This act, while protecting the rights of the 
lords, strengthened the position of the crown 
towards its tenants. Its remoter consequences 
have been a vast increase in the alienation of 
lands and in the number of landholders, the 
termination of the power of creating new 
manors, and an advance in the gradual ob- 
literation of all distinctions of tenure (ib. 
ip. 468). In the same month the king and 
his privy council ordered that all Jews should 
be banished from the kingdom. In making 
this decree Edward was influenced by ' eco- 
nomical as well as religious* motives {Const, 
Hist. ii. 123) ; it was highly popular, and in 
return he received grants from the clergy and 
laity (Hemingburgu, ii. 22). Earlier in the 
month he celebrated the marri^e of his 
daughter Margaret to John of Brabant with 
great magnificence. While he was holding 
his autumn parliament at Clipstone in Sher- 
wood Forest, the queen lay sick at Hardeby, 
or Ilarby, in Nottinghamshire {English His^ 
torical Aeview^ 1888, x. 315). He remained in 
the immediate neighbourhood until 20 Nov., 
and then went to her, and was present at her 
death on the 28th {Arch<Bolotjiay xxix, 169). 
He felt her death very deeply, and is said to 
have mourned for her all the rest of his life 
{Opus Chron, p. 50). The funeral procession 
was stately, and the king accompanied it all 
the way ; the funeral itself took place at West- 
minster on 17 Dec. [For further particulars 
see under Eleanor of Castile.] Edward 
spent Christmas at Ashridge in Buckingham- 
shire, where his cousin Edmund, earl of Corn- 
wall, had founded a house of Bons Hommes, 
and remained there five weeks until 26 Jan. 
1291, evidently to some extent in retirement. 
Early in May he proceeded to Norham to 
settle the dispute between the competitors 
for the throne of Scotland. 

On the death of Alexander III of Scotland, 
in 1 286, his granddaughter Margaret^ the Maid 
of Norway, who was also great^niece to Ed- 
ward, was left heir to the crown, and certain 
Scottish lords sent messengers to the Eng- 
lish king on 29 March, to consult him on the 



Edward I 



28 



Edward I 



affairs of the kingdom (Stetenson, Docvn 
ments, i. 4). During 1288 Eliward was in treaty 
with Eric of Norway to procure a marriage 
between his son Edward and Eric*s daughter 
Margaret) and the following year a bull was 
obtained from Rome sanctioning the mar- 
riage, which was approved of and settled by a 
meeting of commissioners of the three king- 
doms of England, Scotland, and Norway, held 
at Salisbury on 6 Nov. The treaty of Salis- 
bury gratified the Scots, and a letter express- 
ing their pleasure was sent to Edward by the 
estates assembled at Brigham,near Roxburgh, 
on 10 March 1290. The estates also entered 
into a treaty in July concerning the preserva- 
tion of the rights and laws of the kingdom. 
Edward then appointed Antony Bek, bishop 
of Durham, governor of Scotland, in the name 
of Margaret and of his son Edward, that he 
might act with the regents and magnates in 
administering the kingdom according to its 
ancient laws; and further demanded that the 
castles should be put at his disposal, for he 
had heard of certain dangers that threatened 
the country. This demand, however, was 
refused, and was not insisted on. Margaret 
set sail from Norway and died before reach- 
ing Orkney (Stevenson). There were thir- 
teen competitors for the crown, and the king- 
dom was in imminent danger of disturbance. 
Even before the death of Margaret, when the 
report of her illness had reached Scotland, 
the bishop of St. Andrews, the chief of the 
guardians of the kingdom, wrote to Edward 
urging his interference, and entreating him, 
should the queen be dead, to come to the 
border in order to prevent bloodshed, and to 
enable the faithful men of the realm to ' choose 
for their king him who ought to be so * (Fw- 
derOj ii. 1090). Edward is said to have told 
his lords that he hoped to bring the king and 
kingdom of Scotland as much under his au- 
thoritv as he had brought Wales (Ann. Wav. 
p. 409). This reads like an afterthought. At 
all events he did nothing which tended to re- 
duce Scotland to the same condition as Wales, 
for he took steps towards providing her with 
a king by summoning the lords of the king- 
dom to meet him at Norham on 10 May 1291, 
while certain of his own military tenants 
were also ordered to be there at the begin- 
ning of June. On opening the proceedings 
the chief justice demanded whether the Scot- 
tish barons would recognise Edward as their 
superior lord, and various passages were read 
from ancient chronicles showmg how the 
Scottish kings had in time past done homage 
to the kings of England. When the barons 
were evidently unwilling to assent to this 
demand the king swore ' by St. Edward that 
he would either have the due right of his 



kingdom and of the crown of St. Edward of 
which he was the guardian, or would die in 
that place in the prosecution of it ' (Heming- 
BUB6H, ii. 34). He gave them three weeka 
to consider their answer. When they came 
before him again on 2 June, the lords and 
clergy acknowledged his superiority, and each 
one of the eight competitors that were present 
afterwards md so singly for himself, promising* 
to abide by his decision as that of the * sovreign 
lord of the land * (Foedera, ii. 529) . Edward re- 
ceived seisin of the land and castles, and imme- 
diately restored the guardianship of the land 
to the regents, adding a lord to their number 
and appointing a chancellor and chamberlain. 
He received oaths of fealty from several lords, 
his peace was proclaimed, he appointed a 
commission consisting partly of Englishmen 
and partly of Scotchmen, chosen by Bruce 
and Baliol to decide on the claims of the 
competitors, adjourned the court until 2 Aug., 
and then proceeded to Edinburgh, Stirling, 
and Perth, receiving the homage of the people 
at each place to wnich he came. The court 
was agam opened at Berwick on 2 Aug., the 
proceedings were adjourned, and the king re- 
turned to the south. The proofs of the re- 
cognition of his superiority over Scotland 
were by his command entered in the chro- 
nicles of divers English monasteries. In the 
March of this year Nicolas IV granted him 
a tenth of ecclesiastical revenue lor six years 
for the crusade he was contemplating (ib^ 
ii. 509). Acre had fallen, and the christians 
of the East were looking to Edward to de- 
fend their cause. He was never able to 
undertake this crusade, and he applied the 
money which is said to have been collected 
with much strictness to other purposes (CJoT- 
TON, p. 198). On 8 Sept. he buried nis mother 
with considerable state at Amesbury. A pri- 
vate war that had been carried on between 
the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford took 
him to Abergavenny to hold an inquisition 
concerning a castle that Gloucester had built 
there without license. Thence he went to 
Hereford, and on 9 Nov. to Worcester. On 
the 25th he solemnly kept the anniversary of 
the queen's funeral at London, with a large 
number of bishops who came thither for the 
purpose (/IwTi. Wtffom. p. 506). After keeping 
St. Edmund's day, 28 April 1292, with his 
son and daughters at Bury St. Edmund's, 
and visiting Walsingham Abbey (Conf. Flok* 
Wig. ii. 264), Edward again proceeded to 
Berwick. AVhile he was at York he caused 
Rhys, son of Meredydd, who had risen against 
him and had been defeated and captured, to 
be tried and executed for treason. On 2 June 
the court was again opened at Berwick. The 
hearing of the case lasted until 17 Nov. [for 



Edward I 



29 



Edward I 



particulars see BinJOL, John, 1249-1316], 
when Edward delivered his judgment, declar- 
ing that John Baliol ought to have seisin of 
the kingdom, saving the right of the king of 
England and his heirs. On the 20th Baliol 
swore fealty to Edward at Norham, and on 
26 Dec, after his coronation, he did homage 
to him at Newcastle (Fcedera, ii. 693). 

A petty war between the seamen of the 
Cinque ports and of Normandy, which began 
in 1293, gradually assumed serious propor- 
tions, and our seamen beat the French fleet 
in a pitched battle in the Channel. Some 
hostilities took place between the French 
and the Gascons, and Philip lY, who was 
bent on gaining Gascony, summoned Edward 
to appear before him in his parliament (ib, 
ii. 617). Edward made every effort to avoid 
war. A marriag:e was proposed between him 
and Blanche, a sister of the French kin^, with 
whom Edward was, it is said, greatly in love 
(Ann. Wigom, p. 616), and he consented to 
give Philip seisin of Gascony, which was to 
be restorea to him as Blanche s dower. Philip 
dealt dishonestly; he hoped to persuade Ed- 
ward to come over to France with the inten- 
tion, it is said, of entrapping him at Amiens 
(CoTTOir, p. 233) ; he broke on the negotiation 
for the marriage in 1294, and, having got Gas- 
cony into his possession, refused to deliver it 
up a^;ain, and declared that the promise was 
forfeited by Edward's non-attendance. War 
was now inevitable. The king seized all the 
merchants* wool, and with their consent levied 
an impost on it ; he obtained a promise of 
liberal help from the lords ' in a court or par- 
liament ' held on 6 Jime, summoned his mili- 
tary tenants to assemble at Portsmouth on 
1 Sept., and organised his fleet, dividing it 
into three large squadrons (Ckmat, Hist, ii. 
126, 126 ; Nicholas, Hist, of the Navy, i. 
270). On 4 July he seized all the coined 
money in the cathedrals, monasteries, and 
hospitals {Cont. Floe. Wig. ii. 271). He 
did not himself go to Gascony, for his pre- 
sence was required in Wales,where Llewelyn's 
«on Madoc, m North Wales, and other chiefs 
in Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire, were 
in insurrection. The proposed expedition 
came to nothing, though a force under Sir 
John St. John and other leaders made a short 
campaign. He sent an embassy to Adolf of 
Nassau, the king of the Romans, and bought 
an alliance with him. The Count of Bar he 
had already secured, for he had given him 
his daughter Eleanor to wife the previous 
Michaelmas at Bristol ;he took several princes 
of the Low Countries into his pay, and sent 
to ask Spanish help. On 21 Sept. he met 
the cler^ of both provinces at Westminster, 
and, having explained his necessities and apo- 



logised for his violent measures, demanded 
their help. They asked for a day's grace, 
which was accorded them. They onered two 
tenths for a year. Edward sent a messenger 
to them, who told them that the king would 
have half their revenues, and that if they re- 
fused he would put them out of his peace, 
adding : * Whoever of ye will say him nay, let 
him rise and stand up that his person may 
be known.' The dean of St. PauVs tried to 
pacify the king, and fell dead with fright in 
his presence. The clergy had no head, for 
the archbishopric of Canterbury had fallen 
vacant in 1292, and Robert Winchelsey, 
who had been consecrated a few days before 
this, had not returned from Rome ; they 
offered to obey the king's will if he would 
withdraw the statute of mortmain. This he 
refused to do, and they were forced to pro- 
mise the half demanded of them (Heming- 
BUBGH, ii. 64; Cont Flor. Wig. ii. 274; 
Ann, Wigorn, p. 617 ; Flores, p. 394). In Oc- 
tober the laity made grants for the Welsh 
war in a parliament in which the cities and 
towns were not represented, and their con- 
tribution was collected from them * by sepa- 
rate negotiation conducted bv the king's offi- 
cers ' (Const, Hist, ii. 127). iJdward marched 
to Worcester and thence to Chester towards 
the end of November. He ravaged parts of 
Wales, but was shut up in Aberconway by 
Madoc, and reduced to some straits. During 
this war he built the castle of Beaumaris ; 
he spent Christmas at Aberconway, and was 
detained by the war imtil May lz96. Two 
legates, who were sent over to endeavour 
to make peace, awaited his arrival at Lon- 
don on 1 Aug. A great council was held 
and the legates were authorised to conclude 
a truce with Philip, but Edward refused to 
make peace because his ally Adolf was not 
willing to do so. The treacherous designs of 
a certain knight named Turberville, who pro- 
mised Philip that he would obtain the cus- 
tody of the Cinque ports and deliver them to 
him on the appearance of a French fleet, were 
foiled by the refusal of Edward to grant him 
the command he desired. Nevertheless, an at- 
tack was made on Hythe, part of Dover was 
burnt by the French, and it was evidently 
thought that the king ran some risk in at- 
tending the enthronement of Archbishop 
Winchelsey at Canterbury on 2 Oct. (Cont. 
Flok. Wig. ii. 278; Ann.Dunst. p. 400). The 
king stood in great need of supplies ; the re- 
peated descents of the French were intoler- 
able, and no progress was made with the 
war ; the campaigjn in Wales had been pro- 
tracted ; more serious trouble seemed likely 
to arise with Scotland ; and the council held 
in August had not dealt with the subject of 



Edward I 



30 



Edward I 



money, for it was from its composition inca- 
pable of taxing the nat ion. This was to be done 
Dy a parliament which the king summoned 
to meet in November. Writs were addressed 
to both the archbishops and to the several 
bishops containing a clause (JPramunientes) 
commanding the attendance of the clergy of 
each diocese by their representatives, to the 
baronage, and to the sheriffs ordering each 
of them to return two knights elected to serve 
for his shire, and two citizens or burgesses 
elected for each city or borough within it. 
Thus, this parliament of 1295 was an as- 
sembly in which the three estates of the 
realm were perfectly represented, and from 
that time every assembly to which the name 
of parliament can properly be applied was 
constituted on the same model, though the 
desire of the spiritual estate to tax itself se- 
parately in its own assembly, and its neglect 
to appear in the council of the nation by its 
proctors, havo in fact changed the composition 
of parliament {Const, Hist, ii. c. xv. ; Select 
CfiarterSy p. 472 sq.) Edward received grants 
from each estate separately, but was not able 
to prosecute the war with France in person, 
for his presence and all the money he could 
get were needed for an expedition against the 
Scots. 

From the time that Ballol received the 
kingdom Edward had abstained from all di- 
rect interference with the aftairs of Scotland. 
In consequence, however, of the acknowledg- 
ment of the feudal superiority of the English 
king he had a right, and was bound as lord 
paramount, to entertain and adjudicate upon 
appeals made to his. court, and, in spite of 
Baliol's remonstrances, he had asserted and 
maintained this right in the case of an appeal 
made by a burgess of Berwick, which lay 
within the Scottish border, a few months 
after the settlement of the crown, and Baliol 
had implicitly allowed the validity of his as- 
sertion. Before long an appeal was lodged 
against Baliol by Macduff, earl of Fife. After 
some delay he appeared at a parliament held 
at AVestmmster m May 1 294, and there seems 
to have promised an aid for the French 
war (IlEMiNGBimGH, ii. 45). The Scottish 
nobles were dissatisfied with his conduct, and, 
anxious to take advantage of the embarrass- 
ment of England, opened negotiations with 
Philip of France. When Edward heard of 
this he demanded that the border fortresses 
of Scotland should be placed in his hands 
until his war with France was concluded. 
This was refused, and in March 1296 an 
army led by seven Scottish earls ravaged 
Cumberland, and made an unsuccessful at- 
tack on Carlisle (^Chron. Lanercost). Ed- 
ward was not taken unprepared, for he had 



already summoned Baliol and the Scottish 
lords to meet him at Newcastle on 1 March 
to answer for certain injuries done to his 
subjects, and had gone thither with a large 
army. He was joined by the Bishop of Dur- 
ham with the forces of the north, and on the 
28th the English army of five thousand horse 
and thirty thousand foot entered Scotland, 
Edward crossing the Tweed near Coldstream, 
and the bishop near Norham. Berwick was 
summoned to surrender ; Edward's terms 
were refused ; and on the 30th he prepared 
to assault it. The English ships which were 
to act with the army attacked too soon, and 
three of them were burnt by the enemv. 
Edward led the assault in person, the town 
was quickly taken, and, as was the custom of 
war, very many Scots, more it is said than 
eight thousand, were put to the sword ; the 
garrison of the castle surrendered on terms ; 
and the women of Berwick were also after 
some days sent off to their own people (Hem- 
ix GBURGH, ii. 99 ; Knightox, coL 2480, puts 
the number of the slain at 17,400 ; and FoR- 
DUN, xi. 54, 55, dwells on the barbarities of 
the English). While Edward remained at 
Berwick making new fortifications, a mes- 
senger from Baliol brought him the Scottish 
king's answer to his summons, the renuncia- 
tion of his fealty and homage. ' Ha ! the 
false fool,' Edward is said to have exclaimed, 
* what folly his is I If he will not come to 
us, we will come to him ' (Fordux). He de- 
tached part of his army to attack the castle 
of Dunbar, arrived there himself on 28 April, 
the day after Surrey had defeated the Scots, 
and received the surrender of the place. Dur- 
ing May Haddington, Koxburgh, Jedburgfh, 
and other towns were surrenaered to him. 
He was now joined by some Welsh troops, 
and about this time sent back part of his 
English army. On 6 June he appeared be- 
fore Edinburgh ; the garrison began to treat 
on tlie fifth day, and the castle surrendered 
on the eighth day of the siege. At Stirling, 
where the only man left of the garrison was 
the porter to open the gates of the castle, he 
was joined bv a large body of Irish troops. 
Ho ke])t tlie festival of St. John the Baptist 
(24 June) with much state at Perth, creating 
several knights, and while he was there re- 
ceived messengers from Baliol, who brought 
him the king's surrender. On 10 July he 
formally accepted BalioVs surrender of the 
kingdom at Montrose. He then marched 
northwards to Aberdeen, Banff, and Elgin, 
receiving everywhere the submission of the 
nobles and people, and returned to Berwick 
on 22 Aug., bnnging with him the famous 
coronation stone from the abbey of Scone, 
and having achieved the conquest of Scot- 



Edward I 



31 



Edward I 



land in less tlian twenty-one weeks (Steten- 
8OK, Documents, ii. 37). On the 28th he held 
a parliament at Berwick, where he received 
the fealty of the clergy, barons, and gentry, 
the names filling the thirty-five skins of 
parchment known as Eagman Roll. All the 
lands of the clergy were restored, very few 
lords were dispossessed, the ancient jurisdic- 
tions were not interfered with, * no wanton 
or unnecessary act of rigour was committed, 
no capricious changes were introduced ' (Tyt- 
leb), and the king, having appointed a guar- 
dian, treasurer, and other officers for Scot- 
land, returned to England, and held a par- 
liament at Bury St. Edmunds on 3 Nov. 

At this parliament, while the laity made 
their grants, the clergy, after thoroughly dis- 
cussing the matter, authorised Archbishop 
Winchelsey to inform the king that it was 
impossible for them to grant him anything | 
(^Ann. Dunst. p. 405; Cottox, p. 314). The ' 
cause of this refusal was that in the previous 
February Boniface VIII had issued the 
bull * Clericis laicos,' forbidding on pain of 1 
excommunication the clergy to grant, or 
the secular power to take, any taxes from 
the revenues of churches or the goods of 
clerks. Edward would not accept this an- 
swer, and bade the clergy let him know 
their final decision on the following 14 Jan. 
Meanwhile he ordered the lay subsidy to be 
collected, and, after staying some time at St. 
Edmund's, went to Ipswich and kept Christ- 
mas there. AVhile he was there he married 
his daughter Elizabeth to John, count of Hol- 
land, and then made a pilgrimage to AVals- 
ingham. On 14 Jan. 1297 he sent proctors 
to the clergy, who were met in council at 
St. Paul's to decide the Question of the sub- 
sidy. After setting fortn the dangers that 
were threatening the kingdom, these proctors 
declared that unless the clergy granted a suffi- 
cient sum for the defence 01 the country- the 
kin^ and the lords of the realm would treat 
their revenues as might seem good to them. 
The king, who was then at Castle Acre in 
Norfolk, received a deputation sent by the 
synod on the 20th, who declared that the 
clergy found themselves unable to make any 
grant. Edward merely answered the Bishop 
of Hereford, the spokesman of the deputation : 
* As you are not bound by the homage and 
fealty you have done me ior your baronies, I 
am not bound in any way to you.' He was 
exceedingly wroth, for he was in great need 
of money for the defence of the kingdom, and 
on the 30th he declared he would outlaw the 
whole body of the clergy, and take their lay 
fees into his own hand (ib, p. 31 8). The clergy 
of the province of York submitted, made a 
grant, and received letters of protection, and 



the writ was issued against the clergy of the 
southern province on 12 Feb. (Ann. iVtgom. 
p. 630). Two days before this the archbishop 
excommunicated all who should act contrary 
to the papal decree. 

Meanwhile the king's army was defeated 
in Gascony, and Edward, who had on 7 Jan. 
made alliance with Guy, count of Flanders, 
determined to send a fresh force to Gascony, 
while he made an expedition in person to 
Flanders, in order to act against Philip in the 
north. "VVith this view he held a parliament 
at Salisbury on 25 Feb., to which only the ba- 
ronage of the kingdom was summoned, with- 
out the clergy or the commons. He asked the 
lords, one after another, to go to the war in 
Gascony. Every one of them refused, and he 
declared that those who would not go should 
give up their lands to those who would. Then 
he appealed to Humphrey Bohun, third earl 
of Hereford [q. v.], tlxe constable, and Roger 
Bigod, fifth earl of Norfolk [q.v.], the marshal ; 
both excused themselves, not, as they might 
have done, on the ground that the king * had 
strained his rights every possible way ' ( Const. 
Hist. ii. 131-i3, which should be consulted 
for a full account of the crisis of this year), 
but simply because they were only bound to 
serve with the king. Ihey persisted in their 
refusal [for Bigod's well-known altercation 
with the king see Bigod, Roger]. The coun- 
cil broke up, and the two earls forthwith 
gathered a force, which was joined by several 
lords, and numbered fifteen hundred men. 
Edward was uneasy, though he kept his 
feelings to himself (IIemingbijrgh, ii. 121). 
He was obliged to carry out his plans and 
engagements, and as his lords refused to help 
him he seized the wool of all those who had 
more than five sacks, obliged the other mer- 
chants to redeem theirs by paying a heavy toll 
or * maletote,' and ordered the sheriffs to fur- 
nish supplies of provisions from their several 
counties. The lords who held with the two 
earls would not allow the royal officers to 
take anything from their lands. Meanwhile 
Edward had an inten^iew with the arch- 
bishop at Salisbury on 7 Marcli, and pointed 
out tnat he was acting from necessity, and 
that it was useless to attempt to resist. At 
a synod held on the 26th the archbishop, 
while refusing himself to yield, allowed the 
clergy to follow their own consciences, and 
almost all of them purchased their peace of 
the king by the grant of a fifth (Cotton, p. 
323). Edward then issued writs for a * mili- 
tary levy of the whole kingdom ' to meet at 
London, though constitutionally the national 
force could not be compelled to serve out of 
the kingdom {Const. Hist. ii. 13o). When 
7 July, the day appointed for the meeting of 



Edward I 



3* 



Edward I 



the force, arrived, the constable and marshal 
sent to Edward, stating that they attended 
not in virtue of a summons it at his sj* '. w 
request ; for so the messa^ the sheriffs was' 
worded {Fcederay ii, 76V ;, and they begged 
to be excused from performing their duties 
in marshalling the host, and Edward, who 
was now at Portsmouth making preparations 
for his expedition, appointed others to execute 
their offices. They then proceeded to draw 
up a list of grievances (llESfiNGBXiBOH, ii. 
124). Edward evidently thought it well to 
take some measures to gain the goodwill of 
the nation; for he promised that all his 
military tenants who served in Flanders 
should receive pay, and he was reconciled to 
the archbishop. On the 14th he appeared 
before the people on a platform in front of 
Westminster Ilall, in company with the 
archbishop, his son Edward, and the Earl of 
Warwick, and with many tears asked them 
to pardon him for what he had done amiss, 
saymg that he knew that he had not reigned 
as well as he ought, but that whatever they 
had given him, or whatever had without his 
knowledge been taken from them by his 
officers, had been spent in their defence. 
* And now/ he added, ' I am going to meet 
danger on your behalf, and I pray you, should 
I return, receive me as you do now, and I 
will give you back all that has been taken 
from you. And if I do not return, crown 
my son as your king.' Winchelsey wept, and 
promised that he would do so, and all the 
people held up their hands in token of their 
fidelity (Flores, p. 409). 

The barons, liowever, represented that it 
was unadvisable that tlio king should depart ; 
that a rebellion had broken out in Scotland, 
that the country was exhausted, that no more 
tallages ought to be levied, and that the 
Great Charter and the Forest Charter should 
he confirmed (i^.) Edward promised to con- 
firm the charters if the clergy and laity would 
make him grants. The grants of the laity 
were promised by certain of those who had 
come up to the army levied from the various 
shires, and the kinj? tried in vain to induce 
the earls to hold a conference with him. They 
sent envoys to him at St. Albans on the 28th, 
but declined to come in person. He ordered 
the subsidies to be collected from the laity, 
and on 7 Aug. published a letter which the 
8herifi*s were bidden make known to the people 
at large. In this letter he said that he had 
heard that a list of grievances was drawn up ; 
he had not refused to receive it, he had not 
as yet seen it ; his people should remember 
that whatever money he had taken from them 
he had used in their defence. If he should 
return he would amend all things, if not he 



would have his heir do so ; he was bound 
' • go to the help of his ally, the Count of 
^ inlanders, and his going was necessary for the 
safety of the nation. The lords had promised 
him a grant on condition that he confirmed 
the charters, and he prayed the people to give 
him all the help they could, and bade them 
keep the peace (Cotton, pp. 330-4). After 
the publication of this letter the list of griev- 
ances was presented ; it purports to be the 
work of the estates, and after objecting to the 
king's expedition sets forth the poverty of the 
realm, the extent to which it was burdened 
by taxation, the disregard of the Great Charter 
and of the Forest Charter, and the unjust 
seizure of wool, and finally declares that the 
king ought not tx) leave the kingdom in the 
face of tlie Scottish rebellion, and for other 
causes (Hemingbxtbgh, ii. S6l), Edward, 
who was then at Odemer, near Winchelsea, 
answered that he could make no reply to these 
matters without his council, and that some 
members of it had already crossed to Flanders, 
and others were in London, and he requested 
the earls that if they would not go with him, 
they would at least abstain from doing misch ief 
in his absence. While he was at Winchelsea 
he met with an accident that might have 
proved fatal. As he was riding on the mound 
that defended the town on the seaward side, 
watching his fleet, his horse shied at a wind- 
mill, and refused to advance; he urged it 
with whip and spur, and the animal suddenly 
leaped from the mound on to the road which 
lay far below, winding up the steep ascent of 
the hill. Luckily it aligiited on its legs ; the 
road was muddy from recent rain, and though 
the horse slipped some feet, the king was able 
to bring it up again, and entered the gate of 
the town unhurt (Tbi vet, p. 359). On 10 Aug. 
the clergy who had been received into the 
king's protection met in convocation to decide 
the matter of the grant that had been de- 
manded of them ; they returned answer that 
they would apply to the pope for permission ; 
and as the king was dissatisfied with this reply 
he ordered certain not immoderate taxes to be 
collected off them. 

Edward set sail from Winchelsea on the 
23rd, landed at Sluvs, nnd proceeded to 
Bruges. There he ofrered to bear half the 
expense of fortifying the town, but found that 
the townsmen were hostile to the count ; they 
refused to become parties to the alliance he 
had made with Guy, and were inclined to 
surrender the town to the French. It was not 
safe for him to remain there, and he marched 
to Ghent, where the burghers had made terms 
with the French. Edward's soldiers treated 
the Flemish with much violence, plundered 
the neighbourhood, and especially the town ot 



Edward I 



33 



Edward I 



Bamme, where they slew two hundred men, 
for which the kin^ bad some of them hange*^ 
(HEUiNGBUBeH, ii. 159; Rishangeb, p. 413). 
While he was in Flanders his son Edward 
was forced to confirm the charters, and to add 
certain clauses that met the grievances stated 
in the remonstrance drawn up by the earls. 
The charters thus confirmed and enlarged 
were sent over to Edward, who confirmed 
them at Ghent on 6 Nov. {Statutes^ i. 273). 
The additional articles are directed against 
taxation without the common consent of the 
realm, and against the arbitrary imposition 
of the maletote of 40*. on wool, the right 
of the crown to the ancient aids, taxes, and 
prises bein^ reserved. The special import- 
ance of this enactment lies in the fact that 
chiefly owing to the work of Edward the 
consent of the nation now meant the concur- 
rence of the estates of the realm assembled 
in parliament, without which taxation was 
now generally illegal. When the Great 
Charter was granted, no such machinery for 
the expression of the popular will was in ex- 
istence. The articles are extant in two forms : 
in French, the version which holds a perma- 
nent place in the statute book, and by which 
Edwud considered that he was bound ; and 
in Latin, under the title ' De Tallagio non 
concedendo,' and in this form they are con- 
siderably more stringent. Although the Latin 
version was not a statute, and is either an in- 
accurate version of the French articles, or may 
represent the demands on which they were 
founded, it has obtained the force of a statute 
because it is referred to as such in the preamble 
to the Petition of Right of 1628 {Omat Hist. 
iL 141 sq.) Shortly after this an invasion of 
the Scots gave Winchelsey an opportunity 
for bringing the dispute between the crown 
and the clergy to an end by recommending a 
grant. Edward did not accomplish anything 
against the French ; the Flemish towns were 
not inclined to support him, and his allies 
nve him no help. Still his presence in 
Flanders checked Philip, and inclined him to 
accept the mediation ot Boniface VlII, who 
interfered in the cause of peace in August 
(Fcddera, ii. 791). After some delay terms 
weire arranged for two years. While negotia- 
tions were in progress a serious commotion 
was raised in Ghent against the English on 
3 Feb. 1298, and Edward's foot soldiers burnt 
and sacked ^art of the city. The Flemings 
excused their rising by declaring that the 
English had done them much injury, and 
Edward, who knew that he was in their power, 
WIS forced to give them a large sum as a 
recompense (HsMiNOBintaH, ii. 170 sq.) On 
14 llsireh he returned to England. Later in 
the year the terms with France were renewed 
TOL. xm. 



through the pope's mediation, and it was ar- 
ranged that Edward should many Margaret, 
French kii. ♦•'s sister, and that his heir 
Edward should^. contracted to Isabella, 
Philip's daughter. ' Edward's marriage took 
place at Canterbury on 10 Sept. 1299. The 
truce of 1298 was renewed the next year, and 
finally was converted into a lasting peace, 
which was concluded on 20 May 1303. Gas- 
cony was restored to him, but he sacrificed the 
interests of his ally, the Count of Flanders, 
whom he left exposed to the vengeance of the 
French king. The French war ended oppor- 
tunely for Edward, for the Scottish rebellion 
demanded his immediate attention. Wallace 
had inflicted a disastrous defeat upon the 
English at the bridge of Stirling on ll Sept. 
1297, and had laid waste Cumberland and 
Westmoreland. 

Immediately on his return Edward ordered 
commissioners to make inquiry into griev- 
ances in every county, and summoned a lay 
parliament to meet at York on 26 May. The 
army was commanded to assemble at Rox- 
burgh on 23 June, and the Earls of Norfolk 
and Hereford declared that they would not 
attend imless the king again confirmed the 
charters and the new articles. In order to 
meet their demand certain nobles swore, on 
behalf of the king, that if he was victorious 
he would do what they required. After 
visiting the shrine of St. John of Beverley 
and other holy places, Edward met his army 
at Roxburgh, and found himself at the head 
of seven thousand horse and eighty thousand 
foot nearly all Welsh and Irish, and was 
soon joined by a force from Gascony. He 
marched through Berwickshire without meet- 
ing the enemy, for the Scots kept out of his 
way and wasted the country. At Kirkliston 
he waited for news of the ships ho had ordered 
to sail into the Forth with supplies. Pro- 
visions grew scarce, his Welsh infantry be- 
came mutinous, and he had determined to 
fall back on Edinburgh and there wait for 
his ships, when part of his fleet at last ap- 
peared with the supplies he needed, and on 
the third day afterwards, 21 July, a mes- 
senger from two Scottish lords informed him 
that the enemy was at Falkirk. His army 
camped that night in the open on Linlith- 
gow heath, and the next morning, when the 
trumpet sounded at daybreak, the king's horse, 
excited by the general bustle, threw him as 
he was in the act of mounting, and broke 
two of his ribs with a kick (Trivet, p. 372). 
Edward, nevertheless, mounted and rode 
throughout the day as though he had received 
no injury. The Scottish cavalry fled with- 
out strikmg a blow (Fordun) ; the archers 
gave way after their leader was slain, but 

D 



Edward I 



34 



Edward I 



the mfantrjy which Wallace had arranged 
in four compact masses, stood firm, and the 
English horse charged in vain against their 
spears. At last they were broken by the 
English archers and by volleys of stones from 
the other foot soldiers, and were then help- 
less. Edward's victory was complete; twenty 
thousand Scots are said to have perished, 
while only two men of rank fell on the Eng- 
lish side (Tbivet). On advancing to Stir- 
ling, Edward found that the Scots had burnt 
the town ; he lay there fifteen days to re- 
cover from his hurt, sending out expeditions 
to ravage the country, and putting the castle 
in a state of defence. He then marched to 
Abercom, and thence through Clydesdale to 
Ayr, intending to advance into Galloway, 
but provisionsfailed, and he returned through 
Annandale and received the surrender of 
Bruce's castle of Lochmaben. On 9 Sept. 
he was at Carlisle, and there held a council, 
at which he granted the estates of the Scot- 
tish nobles to his own lords. The Earls of 
Norfolk and Hereford now requested that 
they might return home, declaring that their 
horses and men were worn out, t nough they 
let it be known that they were offended be- 
cause the king had granted the Isle of Arran 
to Thomas Bisset, a Scottish lord wlio had 
seized it, whereas they said that he had pro- 
mised to do nothing without their counsel. 
Edward's army, which had already suffered 
much from fatigue and privations, was greatly 
weakened by their departure, and no further 
operations of any importance were attempted. 
After staying for a while at Jedburgh, New- 
castle, Durham, and Tynemouth, he spent 
Christmas at Cottenham, and marched south- 
wards early in 1299, having utterly crushed 
the rising under Wallace, but leaving the 
land beyond the Forth virtually unsubdued, 
and the whole country ready to break into 
revolt. In spite of his magnificent army, his 
success was limited by want of provisions, 
and by the discontent and suspicion of the 
constable and marshal. 

The promise Edward had made before his 
expedition that he would confirm the cliarters 
was claimed in a great council lie held at 
London on 8 March. He was displeased, 
and, though he declared that he would give 
his answer the next day, removed from the 
city during the night. Suspecting that he 
meant to evade his promise, the lords came 
after him and blamed him for his removal. 
Ho declared that he had moved for the sake 
of better air, and told them to go to his 
council for his answer. The Great Charter 
was confirmed, but to the confirmation of 
the Forest Charter was added, 'saving the 
right of our crown/ and when the people, 



who were assembled in St. Paul's church- 
yard to hear the charters and the king's con- 
firmation, heard this salvo, their blessing 
were turned into curses (Hejunobttboh, li. 
183). Another council was held in May, 
and the king then confirmed both the char- 
ters without any salvo, and promised to issue 
a commission for a peranibulation of the 
forests, in order to settle disputes and de- 
clare the reformation of abuses. At the re- 
quest of the pope, Edward liberated Baliol 
in July and delivered him to the legate, for 
he was anxious to meet the wishes of Boni- 
face, in the hope that he would speedily re- 
gain Gascony, and was disappointed at not 
receiving it at his marriage in September. 
Soon after his marriage ho bejy^n to make 
arrangements for another expedition to Scot- 
land, for the regents chosen by the Scottish 
lords, who were upheld by Philip, were 
threatening his garrison in Stirling. On 
11 Nov. he held a council at York, and ad- 
vanced thence with his army as far as Ber- 
wick. There, however, the barons declared 
that it was too late in the year to make a 
campaign, and that they woidd go no further, 
for the king, they said, was not carrying out 
the confirmation of the charters. lie was 
therefore obliged to return, and to authorise 
tlio surrender of Stirling. After spending 
Christmas at BeriR'ick, he retumea to the 
south, and held a parliament at London on 
6 March 1300, which * contained both com- 
mons and clergy ' {Const, Hist. ii. 149). The 
question of the charters was again renewed. 
Again the king confirmed them, and gave his 
consent to a series of articles supplementary 
to the Great Charter (*articuli super cartas'), 
enacting chiefly sundry reforms in the system 
of administering justice. In this parliament 
the king yielded to the will of the nation in 
the matter of the forests, and ordered the per- 
ambulations. At midsummer he again met 
a force composed of those who owed military 
service at Carlisle, and marched into Scotland 
with three thousand men at arms, his banner 
displaying * three leopards courant of fine 
gold, set on red, fierce, haughty, and cruel ' 
(Siege of Carlaverock,y, 23). lie took Loch- 
maben, and, about 10 July, the castle of Car- 
laverock, which was for some time held against 
his army by a garrison of only sixty men. As 
a reward ifor their valour Edward granted 
them life and limb, and ordered that each of 
them should receive a new garment {ib. p. 87). 
He entered Gallowav, and there had an in- 
terview with certam Scottish lords^ who 
demanded that Baliol should be allowed to 
reign over them ; he refused their demands 
ana marched to Irvine, remaining in Gallo- 
way until the end of October. While he 



Edward I 



35 



Edward I 



was at Sweetheart Abbey Archbishop Win- 
chelsey came to him on 27 Au^., in company 
with a papal envoy, bringing hmi a bull &om 
Boniface commanding mm to abstain from 
farther hostilities, denying his right to the 
lordship of Scotland, and declaring that it be- 
longed to the holy see. Winchelsey,it is said, 
added an exhortation of his own, and spoke 
of the safety of the citizens of Jerusalem, 
and how those who trusted in God were as 
Mount Zion (Ps. cxxv. 1). * By God's blood,* 
the king shouted, ^ I will not hold my peace 
for Zion, nor keep silence for Jerusalem ' (Is. 
Ixii. 1), * but I will defend my right that is 
known to all the world with all my might ' 
(Waubixgham). The story may not be true, 
but so devout a king as Edward may well 
have capped texts with the archbishop to 
good purpose. A letter was given to Win- 
chelsey promising that the king would send 
the pope an answer after he had consulted 
with the council of his lords, for it was ' the 
custom of the kingdom of England that in 
matters touching the state of the realm their 
advice should be asked who were affected by 
the business' (Matt. Westmon. p. 426). On 
30 Oct. he yielded to Philip's mediation, and 
granted the Scots a truce \mtil the follow- 
ing Whitsuntide. 

In January 1301 Edward held a parliament 
at Lincoln, at which the report of the peram- 
bulations of the forests was received. The 
forest question was still productive of sus- 
picion and annoyance ; it touched the rights 
and property of the king, and it deeply affected 
the wellbeing of many of his subjects. Edward 
would not consent to the disafforestments 
which were contemplated unless the prelates 
and lords could assure him that he might do 
so without breaking his oath — ^probably some 
oath not to alienate the property of the crown, 
and without stripping the crown of its rights. 
On the other hand, the lords complained of 
Walter Langton, bishop of Lichfield, the 
treasurer, and presented a series of articles by 
Henry Keighley, one of the members for Lan- 
cashire, demanding a fresh confirmation of 
the charters, the execution of the disafforest- 
ments, and various other concessions, while 
the bishops declared that they must obtain 
the pope's consent before they could make a 

Smt. The conduct of the barons appears to 
ve been unreasonable. Edward scarcely 
deserved to be treated with so much distrust, 
though he had to some extent brought it on 
himself by the tenacity with which he had 
clung to what seemed to him to be the rights 
of the crown in the matter of the forests. He 
upheld his minister, but was forced to assent 
to most of the barons' articles. Neverthe- 
less he was deeply angered, and imprisoned 



Keighley, though only for a short time. An 
article declaring that the goods of the clergy 
should not be taxed without the consent of 
the pope he rejected; it was a sign that 
Winchelsey was acting in conjunction with 
the barons. The archbishop had already shown 
by his conduct with regard to the papal pre- 
tensions over Scotland that he was not un- 
willing to use his office to embarrass the king, 
and Edward did not forget to requite him for 
the part he now took in forwarding his abase- 
ment (Const Hist ii. 150 sq.) Edward skil- 
fully Droke the alliance between the arch- 
bishop and the barons. After the commons 
had been dismissed, he laid the pope's bull 
before the barons, and requested them to 
send their own answer. On 12 Feb. they 
wrote a letter to the pope on behalf of the 
whole community of the realm, and addressed 
to him by seven earls and ninety-seven barons, 
declaring that the kings of England ought 
not to answer concerning their rights before 
any judge, ecclesiastical or civil, together 
with more of a like kind (Foedera^ ii. 860 ; 
Heminobubqh, ii. 211). In this letter the 
bishops had no part. On 7 May the king 
also sent the pope a long statement of the 
historical grounos on which he based his 
claim {Fcedera, ii. 863). His troubles with 
the baronage now ceased. His old opponent, 
Humphrey Bohun, was dead, and nis son 
Humphrey, fourth earl of Hereford [q. v.], 
married the king's daughter Elizabeth in 
1302, and surrendered his estates, receiving 
them back in tail, and the childless Earl of 
Norfolk made the king his heir, and entered 
into a similar arrangement (see under Bigod, 
Roger, fifth earl of Norfolk, and Const, Hist 
ii. 154). 

At midsummer Edward again entered Scot- 
land and took the castle of Bonkill in the 
Merse. No vigorous opposition was made 
to his authority south of^ the Forth, though 
the Scots lost no opportunity of secretly in- 
juring the English, and pursued the wise 
policy of cutting off stragglers, and distressing 
the army by wasting the country so that no 
forage was to be had. Many horses died of 
hunger and cold before Edward went into 
winter quarters at Linlithgow, where he spent 
Christmas. His designs of conquest were 
checkedby Philip, who again prevailed on him 
to grant a truce imtil November 1302. Soon 
after his return to England the difficulties 
that had restrained his action against Scotland 
began to clear away. Boniface found that he 
needed help against Philip, and, as he hoped to 
obtain it from Edward, he gave up the cause 
of the Scots; and Philip, who was anxious to 
devote all his strength to the war with Flan- 
ders, concluded the treaty of Amiens, which 

d2 



Edward I 



36 



Edward I 



left the Scots to their fate. Edward, now 
that he had at last regained Gascony and was 
free from embarrassment at home and abroad, 
was able to carry on a more decided policy 
with respect to Scotland. Affairs had gone 
badly there, for on 24 Feb. 1303 Comyn had 
defeated an English army under Sir John 
Segrave at Roslin. On 26 May Edward met 
his army at Roxburgh ; he marched by Edin- 
burgh, Perth, Brechin, Aberdeen, and Banff 
without meeting any resistance save at Bre- 
chin, which stood a siege of about three 
weeks. Then he advanced into Moray, re- 
eeived the submission of the lords of the 
north at the castle of Lochindorb (Fordun, 
p. 989), and continued his ravages as far as 
Caithness. Stirling, the only pli^e that still 
held out against nim, he passed by. He 
marched south to Dunfermline, where he was 
joined by his queen, and passed the winter 
there, receiving the fealty of many Scottish 
nobles, and among them of Comyn. His ex- 
penses were heavy, and he was forced to find 
out some way of raising money. Accordingly, 
in February 1304, he issued writs for col- 
lecting tallage from his demesne. This was 
contrary to the spirit, though not to the let- 
ter, of the confirmation of the charters; it 
was an expedient that naturally commended 
itself to his legal mind as a means of obtain- 
ing his purpose without violating the exact 
terms 01 his pledge. In March he held a 
parliament at St. Andrews, and all the Soots 
who were summoned attended it save Wal- 
lace and Fraser ; of Wallace he wrote on the 
Srd that no terms were to be offered him 
save unconditional surrender. At St. An- 
drews he fixed the amounts which the barons 
were to pay as the price of obtaining his 
peace. When this business was concluded 
he laid siege to Stirling Castle ; it was de- 
fended with great courage, and Edward, who 
was eager to take it, was more than once hit 
b^ missiles from the walls. The siege taxed 
his resources ; he sent to England for mate- 
rials for Greek fire, ordered the Prince of 
Wales to strip off the lead from the churches 
of Perth and Dunblane and send it to him, 
and employed Robert Bruce in conveying the 
framework for his engines (Documentg, ii. 479, 
481). The garrison surrendered at discretion 
on 24 July. Edward granted them their 
lives and merely punished them by imprison- 
ment. He then made arrangements for the 
government of the country and the custody 
of the castles, and, accompanied by a num- 
ber of Scottish nobles, marched southwards 
to Jedburgh, re-entered England, and spent 
ChristmiEis at Lincoln. The court of king's 
bench and the exchequer, which had beien at 
York ever fiince June 1297, now letumed to 



Westminster. The following summer Wal- 
lace was delivered up to tlie English, was 
brought to London, was tried for treason, 
murders, robberies, and other felonies, and 
was put to death on 23 Aug. 

Edward returned to London on 30 Jan. 
1305, and, finding that during his absence a 
number of crimes of violence had been com- 
mitted by hired ruffians, he caused a statute 
to be made against such offences, and in April 
issued a writ founded upon it, called * of Trail- 
baston,' for the arrest and punishment of the 
guilty {Rolls of Parliament y i. 178 ; Fwdera,. 
li. 11960). He had trouble in his own family ,^ 
for in June the Prince of Wales, who was 
under the influence of Piers Gaveston, griev- 
ously insulted and wronged Bishop Langton,. 
and was kept in disgrace for six months [see 
under Edward II]. In the course of the 
summer a Gascon noble, Bertrand de Goth, 
archbishop of Bordeaux, one of Edward's sub- 
jects, was raised to the papacy as Clement V. 
Political and personal reasons combined to- 
render him anxious to oblige Edward, and 
he invited him to be present at his corona- 
tion (Fo^dera, ii. 966). The king did not go, 
but sent ambassadors to treat of certain mat- 
ters that * lay deep in his heart' (ib. p. 971). 
These were the promises he had made con- 
cerning the charters, and the offence that 
Winchelsey had given him {Chronicles, Ed^ 
ward ly Introd. cv). He considered that lie 
had been forced to diminish the just rights 
of the crown by yielding to the demands for 
a perambulation and disafforesting, and that 
his subjects had taken an imfair advantage 
of him ; and it can scarcely be doubted that 
his love of hunting rendered the concessions 
he was forced to make peculiarly grievous to 
him. Accordingly, at nis request, Clement 
absolved him from the pledges ne had entered 
into in 1297 (1^. p. 978). In condemning his 
conduct, and it is certainly worthy of con- 
demnation, it must be rememberea that he 
took no advantage of this bull, and the reli- 
gious and moral standard of the time should 
also be taken into account. Clement further 
ordered that no excommimication was to be 
pronounced against him without the sanc- 
tion of the Roman see, and thus deprived 
Winchelsey of the means of defending him- 
self against the king. Edward had already 
shown that he looked on the archbishop with 
disfavour, for he must have approved of the 
excommunication pronoimced against W^in- 
chelsey in 1301 in tne matter of a suit brought 
against him at Rome, and his anger was kept 
aUve by a quarrel between Winchelsey and 
Bishop Lanffton. In 1300 the archbishop 
heard that the king and Langton had pro- 
cured his suspension, and went to the king- 



Edward I 



37 



Edward I 



«nd asked him to stand his friend. Edward 
replied with great bitterness, reminding him 
of the trouble and humiliation he had brought 
upon him, and telling him plainly that he 
wished him out of the kingdom (BiBcniNO- 
Toy, -p, 16). The letter of suspension that 
the king nad sought for arrived (Concilia, 
u. 2S4, 286), and Winchelsey left England, 
not to return during the king^s life. His ab- 
sence enabled the king and the parliament 
to giye a check to the aggressions of Rome, 
imd led to the famous letter of remonstrance 
against papal oppressions drawn up by the 
parliament at Carlisle in the spring of 1307. 
Nevertheless Edward was forced to make 
some concessions to the pope, and to draw 
back in a measure from tne position he had 
taken up in order to secure his triumph over 
the archbishop {Const, Hist. ii. 166). 

Meanwhile, in September 1305, Edward 
held a council at London, composed of cer- 
tain bishops and nobles both of England and 
Scotland, who drew up a scheme for the ad- 
ministration of Scotland, dividing the country 
into judicial districts, and appointing justices 
and sheriffs as in England (Flores, p. 462). 
The scheme was approved by the king, and 
he fully believed that he had at last secured 
the submission of the country. In the fol- 
lowing year, after taking his pleasure on the 
borders of Wiltshire and Hampshire, he went 
to Winchester to keep Lent, and while he 
was there received tidings of the rebellion of 
Robert Bruce and the murder of Corny n. He 
despatched a force to Scotland, under the 
Earl of Pembroke and two other lords, gave 
Gascony to his son Edward, and issued a 
-proclamation that all who were bound to 
receive knighthood shoidd come up to West- 
minster for that purpose. Then he journeyed 
to London in a horse-litter, for he was infirm 
and could not ride. On Whitsunday, 22 May, 
he held a magnificent festival, knighted his 
•son, and invested him with the duchy of 
Aquitaine, and the prince knighted about 
three hundred of his companions in West- 
minster Abbey. Then, in the midst of the 
festival, the king vowed * before God and the 
swans ' that he would punish Bruce, and after 
that would no more bear arms against chris- 
tian men, but would go to the Holy Land 
and die there {ib. p. 402 ; Trivet, p. 408). The 
prince at once marched to Scotland, and he 
followed by easy stages towards Carlisle, 
where he had summoned his armv to as- 
flemble on 8 July. He was attacked by 
dysentery, and on 28 Sept. turned aside to 
lianercost and joined the queen there ( Chron, 
Lanercostf p. 206). The lenity he had hitherto 
shown in dealing with the Scottish nobles 
had failed of its purpose, and he now issued 



a decree that all concerned in the murder of 
Comyn, and all who sheltered them, should 
be put to death, and that all who belonged 
to tne party of Bruce should, after conviction, 
be imprisoned during pleasure, a decree which, 
considering the habits of the time, certainly 
cannot be considered excessively rigorous^ 
The English army was successful; Bruce's 
adherents were dispersed, and he fled for shel- 
ter to Ireland. The war was conducted, as 
all wars between the English and Scota were 
conducted, with considerable ferocity, and 
some Scottish prisoners of rank were tried, 
condemned, and executed with much bar- 
barity. Edward can scarcely be held guilt- 
less of cruelty in these cases, but his cruelty 
was not purposeless, and his temper, which 
had no doubt been soured by age, uisapnoint- 
ment, and sickness, was severely tried ; for 
these men had broken the oaths of fealty they 
had made to him, and their falseness threa- 
tened to ruin the work on which he had 
expended so much labour and treasure, and 
which he believed had been crowned with 
success. The Countess of Buchan and the 
sister of Bruce were subjected to an im- 
prisonment of much severity, though they 
were not treated so harshly as is often stated 
[see under Comyn, John, third Eahl of Bu- 
chan]. Edward appears to have remained 
at Lanercost until about 1 March 1307, suf- 
fering much from sickness {Chron. de Laner- 
cost^ p. 207), and before he left gave directions 
on 26 Feb. for the banishment of Gaveston, 
the evil counsellor of his son (Fwdera, ii. 
1043). He then went to Carlisle to meet his 
parliament, and remained there. His army 
was summoned to meet at Carlisle soon after 
midsummer, and as Bruce had returned and 
had gained a transient success he determined 
to take the field in person, and hoping that 
his health was restored, offered in the cathe- 
dral his litter and the horses that drew it, 
and set out on horseback on Monday, 3 July. 
His malady returned with increased seve- 
rity, and that day he only journeyed two 
miles. Still his spirit was undaunted; he 
again set out the next day, and again could 
not ride further than the same distance. On 
Wednesday he rested, and the next day ar- 
rived at Burgh-on-Sands (Trivet, p. 413, 
n. 3). Tliere he took leave of the Prince of 
Wales ; he bade him send his heart to the 
Holy Land with a hundred knights, who 
were to serve there for a year; not to bury 
his body until he had utterly subdued the 
Scots ; and to carry his bones from place to 
place wherever he should march against them, 
that so he might still lead the army to vic- 
tory, and never to recall Gaveston without 
the common consent of the nation. He died 



Edward I 



38 



Edward II 



with, it is uiid, words of faith in Qod upon 
liis lips, OR Priday, 7 Julj, at the age of 
sixty-eight <_Chren. de Lanercoet, p. 108), 
His son disobeyed his dyin^ conmiands, and 
he was buried in Westminster Abbey on 
27 Oct, By his first wife, Eleanor of Cas- 
tile, he had four sons : John and Henry, who 
died in infancy; Alfonso, who lived to the age 
of twelve ; and Edward, who succeeded him ; 
and ninedaughterspfourof whom died young. 
The others were : Eleanor, bom in 1266, be- 
trotbed to Alfonso of Aragon (^FiLdera, it. 
214), married Henry III, count of Bar, in 
1293, and died in 1298; Joanna, bom at 
Acre in 1973, betrotlied in 1278 to Hart- 
mann, Bon of the Emperor Budolf (id. 1007), 
who was drowned in 1281, married first, Gil- 
bert, earl of Gloucester, in 1289, and secondly, 
in 1296, against the will of her father, a 
aimple knight, Ralph of Monthenner, who 
thus obtained the earldom of Gloucester 
(Heminobukoh, ii. 70, records how she de- 
fended her conduct in making this marriage), 
she died in 130"; Margaret, bom in 127.), 
married Jolin, afterwards duke of lirabanl, 
in 1290, and died in 1318 ; Mary, born in 
1279, took the veil at Amesbun' in 128i 
somewhat against the wish of her &ther, who 
yielded in this matter to the urgent request 
of the queen-mother ; she was alive in 1328 
(Tbivet, p. 310; Monanticon, ii. 237-40) ( 
Elisabeth, bom at lihuddlan in 1282, and so 
called the ' Welshwoman ' (' Walkiniana,' 
Cotton, p. 103), married first, John, count 
of Holland, in 129C, and secondly, Humphrey 
Bohun, fourth carl of Hereford, in 1302, and 
died in 1316. By his second wife, JIargaret, 
who survived him, Edward had two sons, 
Thomas [q. v.], earl of Norfolk, bom at Bro- 
therton in 1300, and Edmund [q. v.], earl of 
Kent, bom in 1301, and a daughter who died 
in infancy. 

[llntt. Paris, Chron. Maj.; Bojal letters, 
Hon. m ; Annals of Winchester, Wavcriej, Dun- 
Btapio, and Worcester, and T. Wikes ap. Ann. 
Monostiti ; Hisbanger's Chron. ct Annnlt's ; Opus 
ChroDiconim,bothn[). Chron. iMoDOSt. S. Albani ; 
J. da Oienedea ; B. Colloa ; T. WaUingham ; 
Annoles London., ChrODii;1c!<, Edw. I and II; 
Brut y TyTTBogion ; Itegistnun, J. Perk ham— all 
these in Ilolls Set. ; Liber de Ant. Lrgibus ; Ki^ 
hauEvr's De Bellis, both Camd. 80c. ; W. Hem- 
ingburgb; K. Trivet; Cent. Florence of Wor- 
cester, these three Engl. Hist. Soc; Adam of 
Domerhsm; Robert of Gioucester ; P. Langtoft ; 
Fordun's Scoticlironicon, these four cd. Henrnc ; 
Chron. de Lnnercoat (Bannatyne Club) ; Birch- 
ington'a Anglia Sacra, 1. ; M. Westmin3ter,Flore8 
Hist. ed. 1570 ; Rymer's Fisdcra, ii. eil. 1705 ; 
Wilkina's Concilia, ii. ; Stevcasoa'a Documents 
illDBtiatiTo of the Hist of Scotland, Scotch Bo- 
Mnds; Statutes at I^rge, ed. Pickering ; Stobbs'i 



Const. Hist, ii., Select Charters.and Early Plan- 
tageneta; [Seelej'e] Life and Heign of Ed- 
ward I ; BUiauw'a Barons' War ; Pauli's Simon 
I de Montfort; Prolhero's Simon de Montfort; 
Amari's War of the Sicilian Vespers, trans. Earl 
ofEllesmere; Tytler'B Hist, of Seotlaiid, i., 3nd 
edit. ; Burton's HiJt, of Scotland, ii. 2nd edit, ; 
Sir n. Nicolns's Hist, of the Eojal Navy, i., 
and Siege of Cariaverock.] W. II. 

EDWABD n OF Caexarvon (1284- 
1327), king of England, fourth son of Ed- 
ward I by his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, 
■was bom at the newly erected castle of Car- 
narvon on St. Mark^ day, 2& April 1284. 
Aa his parents had spent the greater part of 
the two previous years in Wales and the 
borders, his birth at Carnarvon must be re- 
garded as the result of accident rather than 
the settled policy which Inter traditions at- 
tribute to Lis father. Entirely apocryphal 
are the stories of the kin^ presenting his in- 
fant son as the future native sovereign of th» 
Welsh (they first appear in Qiav, Annals, pp. 
202-3, and'PowEL, HUt. Cambria, ed. 1584, 
p. 3(7). The tradition which fixes the room 
and tower of the castle in which Edward 
was bom is equally baseless. On 19 Aug. 
tlia death of his cider brother Alfonso made 
Edward his father's heir. He was hardly six 
yearn old when tlie negotiations for his mar- 
riage with the infant Queen Mai^arei of Scot- 
land were successfullycompleted. InMarch 
1200 the magnates of Scotland assented to 
tho match {Fadera, 1. 730), but on 2 Oct.BIar- 
garet's death destroyed the best hope of the 
union of England and Scotland. On 28 Nov. 
he lost his mother, Queen Eleanor. 

At a, very early age Edward had a separate 
household of some magnificence assigned to 
him. So early as 1294 the townsfolk of Dun- 
staple bitterly complained of his attendants' 
rapocity and violence {Ann. Dunst. p. 392). 
In 1296 the negotiations for tho marriage 
of Philippa, the daughter of Count Guy of 
Flanders, to Edward came to nothing {Ann. 
Wig. p. 629; Opu» Chrcm. in Trokelowb, 
p, 65). On 22 Aug. 1297 Edward became 
nominal regent during his father's alisence 
in Flanders. The defeat of Earl Warenno 
at Stirling and the baronial agitation for tho 
confirmation of the charters made his task 
extremely dlBcult. On 10 Oct. Edward was 
obliged to issue the famous ' Confimiatio 
Cartanim.' In mid-Lent 1298 the king's 
return ended the regency. Next year a 
propossl of inarrioge Between Edward and 
Isabella, the infant daughter of Philip the 
Fair, was the outcome of the arbitration of 
Boniface VIII between England and France 
{Fa:dfra, i. 954). Kot until 20 May 1303, 
however, did the definite bettnthal take place 



Edward II 



39 



Edward II 



at Pans, and even then the youth of the 
parties compelled a further postponement of 
their union. 

On 7 Feb. 1301 Edward was created Prince 
of Wales and Earl of Chester at the famous 
Lincoln parliament (Ann, Wig, p. 548). This 
step was highly popular throughout Wales 
{Ann, Edw, I in RiSHAiTGEBy p. 464), and 
marked Edward's entrance into more active 
life. In 1302 he was first summoned to par- 
liament. Henceforth he regularly accom- 
panied his father on his campaigns against 
Scotland. In the summer of 1301 he led 
the western wing of the invading army from 
Carlisle (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 200, Ban- 
natyne Club), but soon joined his father, 
and spent the winter with him at Linlith- 
gow (i^. ; Ann, Wig. 551 ), though he was back 
early enough to hold, in March 1302, a council 
for his father at London {Ann, Land, in 
STUBB8,Caron..EaM7./fl«^//,i.l27). In 1303 
and 1304 Edward was again in Scotland, and 
thouffh on one occasion the old king com- 
menaed his strategy, and alwavs kept him 
well employed, the entries on his expenses 
rolls for these vears suggest that he had 
already acquirea habits of frivolity and ex- 
travagance. He often lost large sums at 
dice, and sometimes had to borrow from his 
aerv'ants to pay his debts. He was attended 
on his travels by a lion and by Genoese 
fiddlers. He haa to compensate a fool for 
the rough practical jokes he had played on 
him ( Cal, Doc, Scotland^ ii. No. 1413). Among 
his gambling agents was the Gascon, Piers 
de Gaveston [q. v.l, who had already ac- 
quired a fatal ascendency over him. ArN^alter 
Keynolds, perhaps his tutor, and afterwards 
keeper of his wararobe, was an almost equally 
undesirable confidant. Yet the old king 
spared no pains to instruct him in habits of 
business as much as in the art of war. Ac- 
cident has preserved the roll of the prince's 
letters between November 1304 and Novem- 
ber 1305. They are more than seven hundred 
in niimber, and yet incomplete, and show 
conclusively the careful drilling the young 
prince underwent {Ninth Report of Deputy- 
Keeper of Records^ app. ii. pp. 240-9.) But it 
-was all in vain. In June 1305 he invaded 
the woods of Bishop Langton, the treasurer, 
and returned the minister's remonstrances 
with insult. The king was moved to deep 
wrath ; banished his son from court for six 
months and ordered him to make full re- 
paration {Chron. Edw, I and 11^ i. xxxix, 
188 ; Ahbrev, Plac, i. 257 ; Ninth Report, 
p. 247). In August Edward wrote a whin- 
ing letter to his step-mother, begging her to 
induce the king to let him have the company 
of Gilbert de Clare and < Perot de Gaveston ' 



to alleviate the anguish caused by the stem 
orders of his father {Ninth Report, p. 248). In 
October, however, the king allowed Edward 
to represent him at a great London banquet 
{Anyi, Land. p. 143). 

The revolt of Scotland opened out new 
prospects. Edward I, declining in years and 
health, again endeavoured to prepare his un- 
worthy son for the English throne. At Easter 
1306 the Prince of Wales received a grant 
of Gascony (Tbivet, n. 408). On Whitsun- 
day he was solemnly dubbed knight at West- 
minster, along with three hundred chosen 
noble youths. Immediately after the cere- 
mony the new warriors set out for Scotland, 
solemnly pledged to revenge the murder of 
Comyn. The prince's particular vow was 
never to rest twice in one place imtil full 
satisfaction was obtained. Edward and the 
young men preceded the slower movements 
of his father; but his merciless devastation 
of the Scottish borders moved the indigna- 
tion of the old king (IIishanger, pp. 229-30; 
Tbtvet, pp. 408, 41 1). Edward continued en- 
gaged on the campaign until in January 1307 
his presence at tne Carlisle parliament was 
required {Pari, Writs, i. 81) to meet the 
Cardinal Peter of Spain, who was commis- 
sioned to conclude tne long-protracted mar- 
riage treaty with the daughter of France. But 
Edward's demand of Ponthieu, his mother's 
heritage, for Gaveston provoked a new out- 
break of wrath from the old king (ILeming- 
BUKGii, ii. 272).. On 26 Feb. Gaveston was 
banished, though about a month later Edward 
was sufliciently restored to favour for the 
king to make arrangements for his visiting 
Franco to be married {Fwdera, i. 1012) ; but 
on 7 July the death of Edward I removed 
the last restraint on his son. 

In person the new king was almost as 
striking a man as Edward I. He was tall, 
handsome, and of exceptional bodily strength 
(* Et si fust de son corps un des plus fortz hom 
de souu realme,* Scalachronica, p. 130, Mait- 
land Club). But though well fitted to excel 
in martial exercises, he never showed any real 
inclination for a warlike life, or even for the 
tournament. As soon as he was his own 
master he avoided fighting as much as he 
could, and when compelled to take the field 
liis conduct was that of an absolute craven. 
I^ck of earnest purpose blasted his whole 
character. He had been trained as a warrior, 
but never became one. He had been drilled in 
the routine of business, but had only derived 
from it an absolute incapacitv to devote him- 
self to any serious work. liis only object in 
life was to gratify the wliim of the moment, 
reckless of consequences. M uch of his folly and 
I levity may be set down to habitual deep drink- 



Edward II 



40 



Edward IT 



ing. His favourite pastimes were of a curiously 
unkingly nature. He disliked the society of 
his equals among the youthful nobility, and, 
save for a few attached friends, his faTOurite 
companions were men of low origin and vulgar 
tastes. With them Edward would exercise 
his remarkable dexterity in the mechanical 
arts. ' He was fond of smith's work, was 
proud of his skill at digging trenches and 
thatching houses. He was also a good ath- 
lete, fond of racing and driving, and of the 
society of watermen and grooms. He was 
passionately devoted to horses and hounds 
and their breeding. He bought up the famous 
stud of Earl Warenne, which he kept at 
Ditchling in Sussex. At one time he borrows 
from Archbishop Winchelsey a * beal cheval 
bon pour estaloun,' at another he gets a white 

g«ynound of a rare breed from his sister, 
e boasted of his Welsh harriers that could 
discover a hare sleeping, and was hardly less 

Eroud of the 'gentzsauvages' from his native 
ind, who were in his household to train 
them. He was also a musician, and beseeches 
the abbot of Shrewsbury to lend him a re- 
markably good fiddler to teach his rhymer the 
crowther, and borrows trumpets and kettle- 
drums from Keynolds for his little players. 
He was devoted to the stage, and Reynolds 
first won his favour, it was said, by his skill 
' in ludis theatralibus ' (MoxK of AIalmes- 
BUKY,p. 197). He was not well educated, and 
took the coronation oath in the French form, 
provided for a king ignorant of Latin. He was 
fond of fine clothes, and with all his taste for 
low society liked pomp and state on occasions. 
He had the facile good nature of some 
thoroughly weak men. W^ithout confidence 
in himself, and conscious probably of the con- 
tempt of his subjects, he was never without 
some favourite ot stronger will than his own 
for whom he would show a weak and nauseous 
afi*ection. Sometimes with childlike passion 
he would personally chastise those wno pro- 
voked his wrath. He could never keep silence, 
but disclosed freely even secrets of state. He 
had no dignity or self-respect. His household 
was as disorderly as their master^s example and 
poverty made it. The commons groanea under 
the exactions of his purveyors and collectors. 
The notion that he neglected the nobility out 
of settled policy to rely upon the commons is 
futile. Even less trustworthy is the conten- 
tion that his troubles were due to his zeal for 
retrenchment and financial reform to pay his 
father's debts and get free from the bondage 
of the Italian merchants. (For Edward's cha- 
racter the chief authorities are Malmesbubt, 
Sp.191-2 ; Knighton, inTwTSDBN, c. 2631-2 ; 
BIDUNGTON, p.91; Ann. deMeUa, ii. 280, 286 ; 
Qmt TBiTET,p. 18; Lanercost, p. 236; ScalO' 



chronica^ p. 136 ; and for his habits Blaauw 
in Sussex' Arch. Collections^ ii. 80-98, and the 
NinthRepoi^t of Deputy-Keeper J app. ii. 246-9 ; 
for his finances, Mr. Bond's article m Archceo- 
logia, xxviii. 246-54; and the summary of 
wardrobe accounts for 10, 11, and 14 Edw. II 
in ArcJuBologia, xxvi. 318-46). 

Edward I's policy imderwent a complete 
reversion on his son's accession. After his 
father's death the new king hurried north to 
Carlisle, where he arrived on 18 July, and 
after visiting Burgh next day he received on 
20 July the nomage of the English magnates 
then gathered in the north. He then advanced 
into Scotland, and on 31 July received at 
Dumfries the homage of such Scottish lords 
as still adhered to him {Ann. Lanercost^ p.209). 
But after a few weeks, during which he ac- 
complished absolutely nothing, he left Aymer 
de Valence as guardian of Scotland, and jour- 
neyed to the south after his father's body. 
He had already been joined by Gaveston, 
whom, on 6 Aug., he had made Earl of Corn- 
wall, despite the murmurs of the majority of 
the barons. He now dismissed with scanty 
courtesy his father's ministers, wreaked his 
spite on Langton by pilfering his treasure and 
immuring him in the Tower. Langton's suc- 
cessor at the treasuiT was Walter Keynolds, 
Edward's old favounte. The acquiescence of 
the Earl of Lincoln in the elevation of Ga- 
veston saved him for a time from the fate of 
Langton and Baldock. On 13 Oct. Edward 
held a short parliament at Northampton, 
whence he went to West minster for the burial 
of his father on 27 Oct. On 29 Oct. he be- 
trothed Gaveston to his niece, Margaret of 
Gloucester {Cont. Tbivbt, ed. Hal£ 1722, 
p. 3), and also appointed him regent on his de- 
parture for France to do homage for Gascony 
and wed his promised bride. On 22 Jan. 1 308 
Edward crossed from Dover toBoulogne (Pari. 
WritSy n. i. 13), and on 26 Jan. his marriage 
with Isabella of France was celebrated with 
great pomp in the presence of Philip the Fair 
and a great gathering of French and Eng- 
lish magnates {Ann. Lond.io. 162; Ann. Paul. 
p. 268. Hbmingburgh, ii. 270, wrongly dates 
the marriage on 28 Jan., and Bbidlington, 
p. 32, on 24 Jan.) On 7 Feb. the royal pair 
arrived at Dover {Pari. WritSy n. i. 13), and 
after a magnificent reception at London the 
coronation was performed on 25 Feb. with 
great state at Westminster. The minute re- 
cords of the ceremony {Fadera, ii. 33-6) 
show that the coronation oath taken by the 
new monarch was stricter than the older 
form, and involved a more definite reference 
to the rights of the commons. The disgust 
occasioned by Edward's infatuation for Ga- 
veston had nearly broken up the coronation 



Edward II 



41 



Edward II 



festiTitieSy and the king's fear for the favou- 
rite's safet^ had induced him to postpone the 
February council till Easter. The queen's 
uncles left England in great disgust that Ed- 
ward neglected his bride for the society of 
his ' brother Peter ' (Arm. Paul. p. 262). The 
magnates complained that the foreign upstart 
treated them with contempt, and deprived 
them of their constitutional part in the go- 
vernment of the country. Tiie whole nation 
was incensed that everything should be in the 
hands of the * king's idol.' When the great 
council met on SO April, it sharply warned 
Edward that homage was due rather to the 
crown than to the kin^s person, and fright- 
ened him into consentmg to the banishment 
of the favourite before 25 June. Gaveston 
was compelled to bend before the storm, 
And to surrender his earldom (td. p. 263) ; but 
Edward heaped fresh grants on him and re- 
mained in his society imtil he embarked at 
BristoL He made him regent of Ireland, with 
a vast revenue, pressed the pope to absolve 
him from the excommunication threatened 
if he returned, and soon began to actively in- 
trigue for his restoration. At the Northamp- 
ton parliament in August a nominal under- 
standing between the king and the barons 
, was arrived at. His bad counsellors were re- 
moved from office, and Langton soon after 
released from prison ; yet a tournament held 
by the king at Kenniugton proved a failure 
through the neglect of the magnates. At last, 
on 27 April 1309, Edward was compelled to 
confront the three estates at Westminster, 
and as the price of a twenty-fifth to receive 
eleven articles of grievances, which he was 
to answer in the next parliament (Hot. Pari. 
L 443-6). But his proposal that Gaveston 
should retain the earldom of Cornwall was 
rejected (Hemingbubgu, ii. 275), though his 
intrigues succeeded so far that the chief 
barons were won over individually to consent 
or acquiesce in his restoration. Only the Earl 
of Warwick resisted the royal blandishments 
(Malm ESBURY, p. 160). The nope was induced 
to absolve Gaveston from his oaths {Ann. 
Zond. p. 167 ; Malmesbury, p. 161). In July 
he ventured back to England, and was received 
with open arms by Edward at Chester. So 
effectually had Edward's intrigues broken 
up the baronial opposition that no one ven- 
tured openly to object to the favourite's re- 
turn. At a baronial parliament at Stamford 
on 27 July Edward courted popular favour 
by accepting the articles of 1309, while Glou- 
cester succeeded in persuading the magnates 
to a formal reconciliation with Gaveston, and 
even to his restoration to the earldom of Com- 
walL But the favourite's behaviour was as 
inaolent as ever. Lancaster soon raised the 



standard of opposition. Along with the Earls| 
of Lincoln, Warwick, Oxford, and Arundel, he' 
refused to attend a council summoned at York 
for October (Hemingburgh, ii. 275). Edward, 
as* usual, sought b^ postponing its session to 
escape from his difficulties. He celebrated 
his Christmas court at his favourite palace of 
Langley (* locum quem rex valde dilexit,' 
Malm. p. 162). At last, in March 1310, the 
long-postponed meeting of magnates was held 
in London. The barons attended in military 
array; Edward's attempted opposition at 
once broke down. On 16 March threats of 
the withdrawal of allegiance compelled him 
to consent to the appointment (Fcederay ii. 
106) of the twenty-one lords ordainers, into 
whose hands all royal power was practically 
bestowed. But the limitation of^his prero- 
gative affected Edward much less than the 
danger of Gaveston, against whom the chief 
designs of the ordainers was directed. In 
February Gaveston left the court. As soon 
as the council had ended Edward hurried to 
the north to rejoin his favourite, and, under 
the pretence of warring against Bruce, keep 
Gaveston out of harm's way, while avoiding 
the unpleasant presence of the ordainers, and 
escaping from the necessity of obeying a sum- 
mons for an interview with the king of France 
{U>. ii. 110; Malm. p. 166). But only two 
earls, Gloucester and Warenne, attended the 
' copiosa turba peditum' that formed the chief 
support of the royal army. On 8 Sept. the 
host assembled at BerwicK. By 16 Sept. the 
king was at Roxburgh, and by 13 Oct. at Lin- 
lithgow; but no enemy was to be found even 
if Edward were in earnest in seeking one. 
Bruce, though he boasted that he feared the 
bones of the old king more than his living 
successor, refrained from fighting. By the be- 
ginning of November Edward had returned to 
Berwick (Hartshorne, Itinerary of Ed. II y 
p. 119), where he remained almost entirely till 
the end of July 1311. In February (1311), 
Lincoln, the regent, died, and L^caster, his 
son-in-law, succeeded to his estates. After 
much difficulty Edward was persuaded to go 
a few miles south into England to receive ms 
homage for this property. At their meeting 
they observed the externals of friendship, but 
Lancaster's refusal to salute Gaveston made 
Edward very angry (Lanercosty p. 216). The 
need of meeting the ordainers at last brought 
Edward back to the south, leaving Gaveston at 
Bamborough for safety. But he got to London 
before the magnates were ready, and, spending 
August (1311) on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, 
returned to meet the ordainers about the end 
of that month. The ordinances were soon 
presented to him, but in the long catalogue 
of reforms that were demanded he saw nothmg 



Edward II 



42 



Edward II 



( 



of importance save the articles requiring the 
exile of Guveston. In vain he offerea to 
consent to all other ordinances to stay the 
persecution of his brother Peter and leave 
nim in possession of Cornwall. At last, when 
he saw clearly that civil war was the alter- 
native, he gave an insincere and reluctant con- 
sent to them on 6 Oct. Gaveston at once left 
England for Flanders, while the barons re- 
moved his kinsfolk and adherents from the 
royal household. Edward was now intensely 
disturbed, and complained that the barons 
treated him like an idiot by taking out of his 
hands every detail even of the management 
of his own household. He was detained till 
the middle of December in London by fresh 
sittings of parliament, at which very little 
was done. At the end of November there 
was a rumour that Gaveston had returned 
and was hiding in the west ; before Christ- 
mas he openly visited the king at Windsor 
(^Ann.Londj, 202), and early in the new year 
went with Edward to the north. On 18 Jan. 
1312 the king issued a writ announcing the 
fevourite's return and approving his loyalty 
(^Fcedera, ii. 153). In l?ebruary he restored 
him his estates ^6. ii. 157). Open war neces- 
sarily resulted. Winchelsey excommunicated 
the favourite. Lancaster and his confederates 
took arms. In vain Edward sought to pur- 
chase the safety of Gaveston in Gotland by 
recognising Bruce as king, but Edward^ 
alliance was not worth buying. He was at 
the time so miserably poor that he could only 
get supplies by devastating a country already 
cruelly ravaged by the Scots {Lanercost, pp. 
218-19). On 10 April (Bridlington, p. 42) 
the king and his favourite were at Newcastle. 
Thence they hastily retreated to Tynemouth, 
but Lancaster now captured Newcastle, and 
the pair, regardless of the queen's entreaties, 
fled in a boat to Scarborough ^10 May), where 
Edward left Peter while he withdrew to York 
to divert the baronial forces. But Lancaster 
occupied the intervening country while the 
other earls besieged Scarborough, where Ga- 
veston surrendered to Pembroke on condition 
that he should bo unharmed till 1 Aug. Ed- 
ward accepted these terms and set to work to 
interest the pope and the king of France for 
Gaveston, hoping that the cession of Gascony 
would be a sufficient bribe to make Philip 
support his old enemy (Malmesbuby, p. 177). 
But the treachery of the barons, the seizure 
of Gaveston by Warwick, and his murder on 
Blacklow Hill (19 June) showed that all the 
bad faith was not on Edward's side. Edward 
was powerless to do more than pay the last 
honours to his dead friend. The body found 
a last resting-place at Langley , where a house 
of black friars was establi^ed by Edward to 



pray for the deceased favourite's soul (Knigh- 
ton, c. 2533). The Earls of Pembroke and 
Warenne never forgave Lancaster. Hence- 
forth they formed with Hugh le Despenser 
[q. v.] and Edward's other personal adherents 
a party strong enough to prevent further 
attacks upon the king. After wearisome 
marches and negotiations, the mediation of 
Gloucester, the papal envoy and Lewis of 
Evreux, the queen's uncle, led to the procla- 
mation of peace on 22 Dec. 1312 {Fader a, ii. 
191-2). On 13 Nov. the birth of a son, after- 
wards Edward III, had turned the king's 
mind further from Gaveston. Nearly a year 
elapsed before the earls made the personal 
submission stipulated in the treaty, and as 
parliamentary resources were still withheld 
Edward was plunged into an extreme desti- 
tution that could only be partly met by loans 
from every quarter available, by laymg his 
hands on as much as he could of the confiscated 
estates of the Templars, and by tallages that 
provoked riots in London and Bristol. In 
May 1313 the death of Windhelsey further 
weakened the baronial party, AnA Edward 
prevailed on the pope to quash the election 
of the eminent scholar Thomas Cobham [q.v.] 
in favour of his creature, Walter Reynolds. 
But the prospects of real peace were still 
very dark, tinder the pretence of illness 
Edward kept away from the spring parlia- 
ment in 1313 (Malmesbttby, p. 190). in May 
he and the queen, accompanied by a magnifi- 
cent court, crossed the Channel and attended 
the great festivities given on Whitsunday 
by Pnilip the Fair at Paris, when his three 
sons, the Duke of Burgundy, and a number of 
noble youths were dubbed knights before the 
magnates of the realm {ib. 190 ; Cont, GuiL- 
LAUME DB Nangis, i. 395-6 ; Martin, Hist, of 
France, iv. 601). They returned on 16 July 
(Pari. Writs f 11, i. 101) and reached London 
only to find that the barons summoned to the 
July parliament had already returned to their 
homes in disgust. By such transparent arti- 
fices the weak king postponed the settlement 
until a new parliament that sat between 
September and November. There at last the 
three earls publicly humiliated themselves 
before the king in Westminster Hall in the 
presence of the assembled magnates (Troke- 
LOWE, pp. 80, 81). Feasts of reconciliation 
were held, and nothing save the continued 
enmity of Lancaster and Hugh le Despenser 
remained of the old quarrels. On 10 Oct. 
the pardon and amnesty to the three earls and 
over four hundred minor ofienders were issued 
(Fcedera, ii. 230-1). Parliament now made 
Edward a much-needed grant of money. "The 
first troubles of the reign were thus finally 
appeased. Between 12 Dec. and 20 Dec. 



Edward II 



43 



Edward II 



(Farl, Writs, II. i. 109) Edward made a short 
pilgrimage to Boulogne, but his journey was 
a secret one, and undertaken against the 
opinion of his subjects (Cont, Tbiyet, ed. 
Hall, p. 11). The Question of the ordinances 
was still unsettled, and soon became the 
source of fresh difficulties. 

On 17 Feb. 1314 Edward attended the en- 
thronement of Keynolds at Canterbuiy. On 
28 Feb. Hoxbur^n was captured by Bruce ; 
on 13 March Edmburgh fell, and soon after 
Stirling, the last of the Scottish strongholds 
that remained in English hands, promised to 
surrender if not reheved by St. John's day 
(24 June). Edward was provoked almost to 
tears by these disasters, and eagerly pressed 
the leading earls to march against Bruce with 
all their forces. The earls replied that to 
undertake such an expedition without the 
consent of parliament would be contrary to 
the ordinances. Edward was compelled, 
therefore, to rely upon the customary services 
of his vassals, whom he convoked for 10 June. 
After visiting for Easter the great abbeys of 
St. Albans Itnd Ely (Tkokelowb, p. 83), Ed- 
ward started for the north. A great host 
tardily collected at Berwick, but Lancaster, 
Warenne, Arundel, and Warwick stayed be- 
hind, though furnishing their legal contingent 
of troops. At last, about a week before St. 
John's day, Edward left Berwick for Stirling 
with as much confidence as if he were on a 
pil^imafe to Compostella (Malhesbubt, p. 
202). W hen the great army, greatly fatigued 
by the march, reached the neighbourhood of 
Stirling, St. John's eve had arrived. A de- 
feat in a preliminary skirmish and a sleepless 
and riotous night (T. db la Moor, p. 299) 
still further imfitted the army for action. 
Gloucester strongly ur^ed the king to wait 
another day before fightmg ; but in a charac- 
teristic outburst Edward denounced his ne- 
phew as a traitor, and ordered an immediate 
action. The English army was di^dded into 
three lines, in the rearmost of which Edward 
remained with the bishops and monks in at- 
tendance, and protected by Hugh le Be- 
spenser. The first line soon fell into confu- 
sion, and Gloucester, its leader, was slain. 
The royal escort at once resolved that Ed- 
ward must withdraw to a place of safety ; 
and the king, after requesting in vain admit- 
tance into Stirlinff Castle, hurried off to- 
wards Dunbar, hotly pursued bjr the enemy. 
Thence he took ship for Berwick. The re- 
treat of the king was the sifpal for the fiight 
of the whole army. Stirlmg surrendered, 
and all Scotland acknowledged as its king 
the victor of Bannockbum. 

Meanwhile Lancaster had assembled an 
army at Pontefract, on the pretext that Ed- 



ward, if successful in Scotland, had resolved 
to turn his victorious troops against the con- 
federate earls. Edward was compelled ta 
make an unconditional submission at a parlia- 
ment at York in September, to confinn the 
ordinances, to change his ministers, and to> 
receive the earls into favour. Hugh le De- 
spenser remained in hiding. About Christ- 
mas time Edward celebrated Gaveston's final 
obsequies at Langlejr (Malmesbukt, p. 209). 
In the February parliament at London the vic- 
torious barons removed Despenser and Walter 
Langton from the council, pureed the royal 
household of its superfluous and burdensome 
members, and put the king on an allowance of 
10/. a day. The humiliation of Edward was 
furthered by the appointment of Lancaster 
as commander-in-chief against the Scots in 
August, and completed by the acts of the 
parliament of Lincoln in January 1310^ 
where it was * ordained that the king should 
undertake no important matter without the 
consent of the council, and that Lancaster 
should hold the position of chief of the 
council ' {lb. p. 224). 

Edward had thus fallen completely under 
Lancaster's power. The invasion of Ireland 
by Edward Bruce, the revolt of Llewelyn 
Bren in "Wales, the revolt of Banastre against 
Lancaster, the Scottish devastations extend- 
ing as far south as Fumess {Lanercost, p. 233), 
the Bristol war in 1316, aggravated by the 
floods of 1315 and the plague of cattle, the 
unheard-of scarcity of corn and the unheal thi- 
ness of the season of 1316 showed that a 
stronger rule was required. But Lancaster 
failed almost as signally as Edward. After 
Michaelmas he attempted a Scottish expedi- 
tion ; but Edward now refused to follow him, 
so the earl returned, having accomplished 
nothing {ih. p. 233). His failure to carry a 
new series of ordinances drove him into a 
sulky retirement. This attitude again re- 
stored freedom to Edward and his courtiers. 
The king's application to the pope to be re- 
lieved from Ills oath to the ordinances, and 
for the condemnation of the Scots, failed of 
its purpose. But the baronial party was now 
broKen up, and Edward vigorously intrigued 
to win to his side the middle party, led by Pem- 
broke, Badlesmere, and D'Amory, husband of 
one of the Gloucester coheiresses. With this 

Sarty hatred of Lancaster was stronger than 
islike of the royal policy. The abduction of 
the Countess of Lancaster by Earl Warenne, 
planned, it was believed, by Edward and hift 
courtiers {Cont Trivet, p. 21), produced a 
new crisis. Private war broke out between 
Warenne and Lancaster in Yorkshire. In 
July Edward went north, and under pretence 
of the Scots war assembled in September an 



Edward II 



44 



Edward II 



army at York tliat was really directed against 
Lancaster, who in his turn collected troops 
at Pontef]*act. Both parties watched each 
other for some time, but no actual hostilities 
followed. At the end of July the mediation 
of Pembroke and the cardinal legates resulted 
in a reference of all disputes to a parliament 
to meet at Lincoln in January 1318. Yet 
-even after this Edward, on his way to London, 
inarched in armsimder the walls of Pontefract 
{ib. pp. 23-4), but Pembroke's strong remon- 
strances prevented any attack on Lancaster's 
stronghold. The wearisome negotiations were 
still mr from ended. The parliament origi- 
nally sunmioned for January was postponed 
month after month. On 2 April the capture 
of Berwick by the Scots was a new indica- 
tion of the need of union. Nevertheless at 
the coimcil which was held on 12 April at 
Leicester another scheme of reconciliation 
broke down. All July the king was at North- 
ampton, while the chancellor went backwards 
ana forwards to negotiate with Lancaster. 
On 31 July a pardon was issued ; on 14 Aug. 
a personal meeting of the cousins was held 
at Hathem, near Loughborough, where they 
exchanged the kiss of peace with apparent 
cordiality (Knighton, c. 2534). In October 
a parliament at York ratified the new treaty. 
It w^as a complete triumph for the foes of 
Edward. The ordinances were again con- 
£rmed, and a permanent council was ap- 
pointed, which practically put the royal au- 
thority into commission. 

The bad seasons still continued ; the Scots* 
ravages extended ; the court grew more needy ; 
law was everywhere disregarded ; while the 
imposture of John of Powderham at Oxford 
only gave expression to the general belief 
that so de^nerate a son of the great Edward 
might well be a changeling. The Scottish 
war kept Edward in the north for the greater 
part of the next two years. The court, which 
removed to York in October 1318, remained 
there almost continually until January 1320. 
In March 1319 a seconid parliament met at 
York and made a liberal grant for the Scot- 
tish expedition (Bbidlinqton, p. 56). The 
pope now confirmed the sentence of the 
legates against the Scots. At the end of 
August Edward and Lancaster laid siege to 
Berwick. In September the Scots ravaged 
Yorkshire in the rear of the besiegers, and a 
^lan to carry off the queen from York very 
nearly succeeded (Malmesbury, p. 243). On 
12 Sept. Archbishop Melton was severely 
<[efeated by them at Myton-on-Swale, and 
the enemy plundered as far as Pontefract. 
Edward was thus forced to raise the siege of 
Berwick, but entirely failed to cut on the 
Scots in Yorkshire. It was believed that 



Lancaster was bribed by the Scots, but in- 
competence and disunion quit« account for 
the lailure. A two years' truce was arranged. 
In January 1320 Edward held a council of 
magnates at York, which Lancaster as usual 
refused to attend. He then went south with 
his queen, entering London on 16 Feb. On 
19 June he and his queen sailed for France 
{Pari. Writs, ii. i. 244). Before the hig;h 
altar at Amiens Cathedral he performed his 
long-delayed homage for Ponthieu and Aqui- 
taine to Philip V, put down a mutiny of his 
subjects at Abl)eville,and on 20 July attended 
at Boulogne the consecration of Burghersh, 
Badlesmere's nephew, to the bishopric of 
Lincoln. He returned to England on 22 July 
(Fcprfem, ii. 428), and on 2 Aug. made a 
solemn entry into London. On 13 Oct. he 
held a parliament at Westminster, which 
Lancaster again refused to attend. For the 
next few months the imwonted quiet con- 
tinued. 

Since Edward had put himself in the 
hands of Pembroke and Badlesmere he had 
enjoyed comparative security and dignity. 
Only when great enterprises were attempted 
was Lancaster still in a position to break up 
the government of the country. But Edward 
loved neither Pembroke nor his allies, and 
had now found in the younger Hugh le De- 
spenser [q. v.] a congenial successor to Ga- 
veston. The increasing favour shown by 
Edward to father and son, the revival of the 
old court following under their leadership, 
and the extensive grants lavished on them by 
the king, made them both hated and feared. 
As the husband of the eldest of the three 
Gloucester coheiresses, the younger Despen- 
ser's ambition was to obtain the Gloucester 
earldom. Early in 1321 private war had broken 
out in South Wales between him and the 
neighbouring marchera, among whom were 
Audley and Amory , his rivals for the Glouces- 
ter inheritance. Edward in vain attempted to 
protect Despenser. He approached so near 
; the scene ol action as Gloucester. As soon 
as he went back towards London Despenser's 
lands in Wales were overrun. Meanwhile 
Lancaster and the northern lords held on 
28 June a meeting at Sherburn in Elmet, 
and resolved to maintain the cause of the 
marchers. Pembroke and Badlesmere also 
took the same side, after Edward had rejected 
their advice to dismiss Despenser. On 15 July 
parliament met at Westmmster, and Edward 
was finally compelled to accept their sentence 
of forfeiture and banishment. The elder 
Despenser immediately withdrew to foreign 
parts, but his son took to the high seas and 
piracy. 

Edward as usual was spurred by the mia- 



Edward II 



45 



Edward II 



fortune of his favourite into activity, and 
cleverly took advantage of the want of har- 
mony between the various elements arrayed 
against him to prepare the way for Hu^h^s 
letunLi An accident favoured his design. 
On 13 Oct. 1321 the queen, on her way to 
Canterbury^ reouested tne hospitality of Lady 
Badlesmere in Leeds Castle. The doors were 
dosed against her ; six of her men were slain 
in the tumult that ensued. Edward was 
terribly roused by this insult to his wife. 
He at once took arms, and besieged Leeds 
Castle with such vigour that on 31 Oct. it 
capitulated. During this time an army, said 
to be thirty thousand strong, had gathered 
round Edward^s standard. Six earls and 
man^ magnates were in his camp. Lancas- 
ter, in his hatred of Badlesmere, had taken 
no measures to counteract Edward's plans. 
The fall of Leeds gave Edward courage to 
unfold his real designs. On 10 Dec. he ex- 
torted from the convocation of clergy their 
opinion that the proceedings against the De- 
spensers were illegal. He ordered the seizure 
01 the castles of tne western lands, and him- 
self inarched westwards at the head of his 
forces and kept his Christinas court at Ciren- 
cester. His object now was to cross the 
Severn; but Gloucester was occupied by the 
barons, and at Worcester he found the right 
bank guarded by armed men. At Bridgnorth, 
Shro^hire, the Mortimers headed the resist- 
ance, and in the struggle that ensued the town 
was burnt. Thence he proceeded to Shrews- 
bury, where the Mortimers, afraid to risk a 
battle in the absence of the long-expected 
Lancaster, allowed him to cross the river, and 
finally surrendered themselves into his hands. 
Edward now wandered through the middle 
and southern marches, and took without re- 
sistance the main strongholds of his enemies. 
At Hereford he sharply reproved the bishop 
for his treason : thence, returning to Glouces- 
ter, he forced Maurice of Berkeley to surren- 
der that town and Berkeley itself. On 1 1 Feb. 
1322 Edward issued at Gloucester writs for 
the recall of theDespensers (Pari. WriU, ii. i. 
276). He thence proceeded to the midlands, 
where the northern lords, thoroughly fright- 
ened into activity, were now besieging Tick- 
hill. On 28 Feb. the royal levies assembled 
at Coventry, but Lancaster, after endeavour- 
ing to defend the passage of the Trent at 
Burton, fled to the north, where Sir Andrew 
Harday was turning against the traitors the 
forces collected against the Scotch. The 
king's triumph was now assured. Tutbury 
and Kenilworth surrendered, Lancaster's 
most trusty officers deserted him, and Roger 
D'Amory fell dying into the king's hands. 
Lancaster and H!ereford, unable to mid shelter 



even at Pontefract, hurried northwards to 

i'oin the Scots. On 16 March they were met 
)y Harclay at Bgroughbridge, Yorkshire,, 
where Hereford was slain and Lancaster cap- 
tured. Five days later Edward presided over 
Lancaster's hasty and irregular trial at his own 
castle of Pontefract. Remsed even a hearing,, 
he was beheaded the next day. The perpetual 
imprisonment of the Mortimers and Audley,. 
the hanging of Badlesmere at Canterbury, 
the execution of about thirty lesser offenders,, 
completed the signal triumph of Edward and 
the Despensers. On 2 May a full parliament 
met at York, finally revoked the ordinances, 
and, in opposition to the baronial oligarchy 
that had so long fettered the action of Ed- 
ward, laid down the principle that all weighty 
afiairs of state should proceed from the coun- 
sel and consent of king, clergy, lords, and 
commons. The issue of some new ordinances 
of Edward's own was perhaps intended ta 
show that the king, no less than Earl Thomas, 
was willing to confer the benefits of good 
government on his people. 

The troubles were no sooner over than, at the 
end of July (1322), Edward undertook a new 
expedition against Scotland, the truce having 
already expired; but the invasion was no more 
successful than his other martial exploits. Ber- 
wick was besieged, but to no purpose. Bruce 
withdrew over the Forth, leaving Lothian 
desolate. Before September Edward was- 
defeated by pestilence and famine rather than 
by the enemy (Lanercoatj pp. 247-8), On his 
return to England Bruce followed in his wake. 
About Michaelmas Edward was nearly cap- 
tured at Byland Abbey. He fled as far as 
Bridlington. The parliament, summoned ta 
Kipon on 14 Nov., was unable to meet further 
north than York. In January 1323 Harclay 
turned traitor, making his private treaty with 
the Scots {ib. p. 248), justified, it was thought 
in the north, by the king's inability to defend 
his realm. At last, on 30 May (Fcedera, ii. 
521 ), a truce for thirteen years ended Edward's- 
vain attempts to subdue Scotland. 

From 1322 to 1326 Edward reigned in 
comparative tranquillity under the guidance 
of the Despensers. Some slight attempts ta 
assail the Despensers were easily put down ; 
but the deplorable condition of the country 
and the miserable poverty of the royal ex- 
chequer were from the beginning the chief 
dangers of the new government. The De- 
spensers showed little capacity as adminis- 
trators, and their greed and insolence soon 
caused old hatreds to be revived. In par- 
ticular. Queen Isabella became a furious 
enemy of the younger Despenser, by whose 
counsel, it was believed, she was on 28 Sept. 
1324 deprived of her lands and servants, and 



\ 



Edward II 



46 



Edward II 



limited to an allowance of twenty shillings a 
<iay (Lanercost, p. 254 ; Ann. Paul. p. 307). 
Meanwhile Edward offended some of tne most 
important of his old friends. He alienated 
Archbishop Reynolds by making the Arch- 
l)i8hop of York his treasurer ; his treatment 
of Badlesmere had already made Burghersh 
a secret foe; new men, like Stratford and 
Ayreminne, disliked Edward for opposing 
their promotion. With even greater folly Ed- 
ward provoked a quarrel with Henry, earl of 
Leicester, the brother and heir of Thomas of 
Lancaster (MALiiESBimY, pp. 280-1). On 
1 Aug. 1324 Roger Mortimer escaped from 
the Tower to France, where he became a 
nucleus of disaffection. Thus Edward gra- 
dually alienated all his possible supporters, 
and, quite careless or imconscious of his iso- 
lation, was left to face the indignation of 
a misgoverned nation, and the rancorous 
hatred of leaders of embittered factions. 

A new danger now came from France. 
Charles IV, who had succeeded Philip V in 
1322, had long been clamouring that Edward 
should perform homage to him for Aquitaine 
and Ponthieu. In June 1324 Pembroke, the 
last influential and faithful friend of Edward, 
died at Paris while attempting to satisfy the 
French king's demands. Edmund of Kent 
[q. v.], who had been sent to Paris in April, 
proved a sorry diplomatist. Before the end 
of the year actual hostilities commenced by 
a French attack on Gascony. 

All could have been easily settled if Ed- 
ward had crossed over and performed homage. 
But the Despensers were afraid to let him 
escape from their hands, and on 9 March 
1325 Edward gave way to the blandishments 
of his queen, and allowed her to visit her 
brother s court as his representative. It was 
not Isabella's policy to settle the differences 
between her brother and husband. She pro- 
cured the prolongation of a truce until 
1 Aug., while Edward, whose arbitrary pro- 
ceedings in the early summer had provoked 
discontent without actual resistance, met his 
parliament at London on 25 June, when the 
magnates strongly expressed their opinion 
that he should immediately go to France. 

Edward pretended to make preparations 
for his departure, but gladly availea himself 
of a proposal of the French king that he 
should give Gascony to his eldest son, and 
that the homage of the latter should bo ac- 
cepted in place of his. On 12 Sept. the 
young Duke of Aquitaine sailed to France, 
and before the end of the month performed 
homage to Charles IV at Vincennes. 

Edward now recalled Isabella to England, 
but she absolutely refused to go as Ions- as 
Hugh le Despenser remained in power. Ed- 



ward laid his grievances before the parlia- 
ment which sat at Westminster between 
18 Nov. and 5 Dec., and requested mediation. 
A letter from the bishops had no efiect either 
on Isabella or her son. Early in December 
Edward wrote strong letters to Charles, to 
Isabella, and to the young Edward {Fcedera, 
iL 615-16). All through the spring of 1326 
he plied them alternately with prayers and 
threats, but all to no purpose. It was now 
plain that Isabella had formed with Mortimer 
and the other exiles at Paris a deliberate plan 
for overthrowing the Despensers, if not of de- 
throning Edwa^ himself. The king's am- 
bassador, his brother, the Count of Hainault, 
whose daughter was betrothed to the Duke 
of Aquitaine, joined them. On 24 Sept. 1326 
Isabella and her followers landed at Orwell 
in Suffolk, and received, inmiediately on land- 
ing, such support as insured her triumph. 

Edward meanwhile had made frantic and 
futile efforts in self-defence ; but his parlia- 
ments and councils would give him no aid, 
his followers deserted him, and the armies 
he summoned never assembled. In August 
(1326) he was at Clarendon, Porchester, and 
Romsey, whence he returned to London, and 
took up his abode in the Tower. On 27 Sept. 
he received in London the news of Isabella's 
arrival. He had in previous times made ef- 
forts to conciliate the Londoners, but it was 
all in vain. On 2 Oct. he fled westwards with 
the chancellor Baldock and the younger De- 
spenser, doubtless with the object of taking 
refuge on his favourite's estates in South 
Wales, and relying with too great rashness 
on the promise of the Welsh and his popu- 
larity with them (T. de la. Moob, p. 309). On 
10 and 11 Oct. he was at Gloucester, whence 
he issued an abortive summons of the neigh- 
bourhood to arms. Next day he was at West- 
bury-on-Sevem, in tlie Forest of Dean. On 
14 Oct. he was at Tint em, and from 16 to 
21 Oct. at Chepstow {Pari, Writs, n. i. 451- 
452), whence lie despatched the elder De- 
spenser to Bristol, where on 26 Oct. he met 
his fate. On the same day the proclamation 
of the Duke of Aquitaine as guardian of the 
realm sliowed that success had given the 
confederates wider hopes than the destruc- 
tion of the Despensers and the avenging of 
Earl Thomas {Fccdera, ii. 646). 

Edward next made an attempt to take ship 
for Lundy, whither he had already sent sup- 
plies as to a safe refuge ; but contrary winas 
prevented his landing (T. de la Moor, p. 309), 
and he again disembarked in Glamorgan. On 
27 and 28 Oct. he was at Cardiff. On 28 and 
29 Oct. he was at Caerphilly, still issuing from 
both places writa of summons and commis- 
sions of array {Fcedera, ii. 646; Pari, WritSp 



Edward II 



47 



Edward II 



n. L 463). Between 5 and 10 Nov. he was 
at Neath beseeching the men of Gower to come 
to his aid (Pari WnU,u. i. 464\ On 10 Nov. 
he sent the abbot of Neath ana others to ne- 
gotiate with the queen. Meanwhile Henry of 
l^ncaster and Rhys ap Howel, a Welsh clerk 
newly released from tne Tower by the queen, 
were specially despatched to effect his capture. 
Bribes and spies soon made his retreat known. 
On 16 Nov. the king and all his party fell 
into the hands of the enemy, and were con- 
ducted to the castle of Uantrissaint {Ann, 
Paul p. 319 ; Ejoghton, c. 2545, says they 
were captured at Neath). On 20 Nov. Bal- 
dock ana the yoimger Bespenser were handed 
over to the queen at Hereford, where they 
were speedily executed. On the same day 
Edwara, who had been retained in the cus- 
tody of Lancaster, was compelled to surrender 
the great seal to Bishop Adam of Orlton at 
Monmouth {Fasdera, ii. 646). Edward was 
thence despatched to Kenilworth, where he 
remained the whole winter, still in Lancas- 
ter's custody, and treated honourably and 
generously by his magnanimous captor. 

A parliament assembled at Westminster 
on 7 Jan. 1327. At Orlton's instigation the 
estates chose Edward, duke of Aquitaine, as 
their king. Bishop Stratford drew up six 
articles justifying Edward's deposition. But 
a formal resignation was thougnt desirable by 
the queen's advisers. Two efforts were made 
to persuade Edward to meet the parliament 
(Pari. Writs, n. i. 467 ; Lanercostf p. 257), 
but on his resolute refusal a committee of the 
bishops, barons, and judges was sent to Kenil- 
worth. On 20 Jan. Edward, clothed in black, 
fave them audience. At first he fainted, 
ut, recovering himself, he listened with tears 
and groans to an address of Orlton's. Then 
Sir W. Trussell, as proctor of parliament, re- 
nounced homage to him, and Sir T. Blount, 
the steward of the household, broke his staff 
of office. Edward now spoke, lamenting his 
ill-fortune and his trust in traitorous coun- 
sellors, but rejoicing that his son would now 
be king (KiaoHToy, c. 2550). The deputa- 
tion then departed, and Edward Il's reign 
was at an end. 

The deposed king remained at Kenilworth 
until the spring, on the whole patiently bear- 
ing his sufferings, but comj^laining bitterly 
of nis separation from his wife and children. 
Some curious verses are preserved which 
are said to have been written by him (they 
are given in Latin in Fabian, p. 185, but the 
French original is given in a manuscript at 
Longleat, Mist M8S, Commissionf Srd Rep. 
180). The government of Isabella and Mor- 
timer was, however, too insecure to allow Ed-- 
ward to remain alivey and a possible instrument 



of their degradation. He was transferred at the 
sug^stion of Orlton from the mild custody 
of his cousin to that of two knights, Thomas 
de Goumay and John Maltravers, who on 
3 April removed him by night from Kenil- 
worth. Such secrecy enveloped his subse- 
quent movements that very dinerent accounts 
of them have been preserved. Sir T. de la 
Moor (pp. 31 5-1 9), who has preserved the most 
circumstantial narrative (but cf. Archeeolo^, 
xxvii. 274, 297), says he was taken first to 
Corfe Castle and thence to Bristol. But on 
his whereabouts becoming known some of 
the citizens formed a plot for his liberation, 
whereupon he was secretly conducted by night 
to Berkeley. Murimuth (pp. 53-5) gives 
a rather different account of nis wanderings, 
but brings him ultimately to Berkeley. The 
new gaolers now inflicted every possible in- 
dignity upon Edward, and entered on a sys- 
tematic course of ill-treatment which could 
have but one end. He was denied sufficient 
food and clothing, he was prevented from, 
sleeping, he was crowned with a crown of hay, 
and shaved by the roadside with ditch water. 
Yet the queen reproved the guards for their 
mild treatment. At last Thomas of Berkeley 
was removed from his own castle, so that the 
inhumanity of the gaolers should be deprived 
of its last restraint . Edward was now removed 
to a pestilential chamber over a charnel-house 
in tne hope that he would die of disease; 
but as his robust constitution still prevailed, 
he was barbarously murdered in his bed on 
21 Sept. His dying shrieks, resounding 
throughout the castle, sufficiently attested 
the horror of his end. It was given out that 
he had died a natural death, and his body 
was exposed to view as evidence of his end 
(' Documents relating to the Death and Burial 
of Edward II,' by S. A. Moore, in Archeeologia, 
1. 215-226). At last it was buried with con- 
siderable pomp in the abbey of St. Peter at 
Gloucester, now the cathedral (i6.) In after 
years his son erected a tomb over his remains, 
which is one of the glories of mediaBval sculp- 
ture and decorative tabernacle work (Archaol. 
Joum, xvii. 297-310). His misfortunes had 
so far caused his errors to be forgotten, that 
it was much debated by the people whether, 
like Thomas of Lancaster, he had not merited 
the honour of sanctity (Kniguton, c. 2551). 
The Welsh, among wnom he was always 
popular, kept green the memory of his fate by 
mournful dirges in their native tongue (AVal- 
sra^GHAM, i. 83). 

Edward's death was so mysterious that 
rumours were soon spread by the foes of the 
government that he was still alive. For be- 
lieving such rumours Edmund of Kent in- 
curred the penalties of treason in 1328. In 



Edward III 



48 



Edward III 



the neit generation a circumstantial story 
■was repeated that Edward badeneaped from 
Berkeley, nod after long wanderings in Ire- 
land, England, the Low Countriea, and 
Prance, ended his life in a hermit's cell in 
liomhardy (letter of Manuel Fieachi to Ed- 
"ward III from Cartulary of Maguelone in 
So. 37 of the Fublicatioiu dt la SodSti 
ArcA^logique de MontpfUier (ISiS) ; cf. ar- 
ticle of Mr. Bent in JdacmiUan'a Moffasine, 
xli. 393-4, Notes oTid Qaerie», 6lh series, ii. 
381, 401, 489, and Sutbbs, Chron. Edw. I 
and II, ii. ciii-criii). 

Edward's fiimUj by hia wife consisted of 
(1) Edi^^ of WindBor, bom at Windsor 
on 13 Nov, 1319, who succeedetl him [see 
Edwabd III] ; (2) John of Eltham, bom at 
Eltbom; (3) Eleanor, alao called Isabella 
(Ann. Faul. p. 283), bom at WondsWch on 
6 June 1318, and married b 1332 to Hegi- 
nald, count of Quelderland ; (4) Joan of the 
Tower, bom in that fortress in July 1321, 
married in 1328 to David, son of Robert, Bruce, 
(uid afterwards Icing of Scots ; slie was dead 
in 1357 (SA.KDFOBD, Genealogical History, 
pp. 145-56). 

[Some of the best snthoritioE for Edmird II's 
life and reign are collectod by Dr. Stnbba in bis 
Obraniclea of the Reigns of Edward I nnd VA- 
irard U ID the Holla Series, with vary VBlunbla 
prefaced. They inclnda the short and iii(!oni- 
plele biogrnphy by Sir T. de la Moor, and also 
the AnDoles FauUui. Annilea Londinienees, and 
the Livea by the Monk of Iilulmeshury and 
canon of Brioliagton. Other chroniclers are A.. 
Hnrlmnth and W. of Hemingbargh (EagL Siat, 
Soc.), the coatinuator of Trivet (ed. Hall). 1722, 
the Aanals of Laaercost and Sualnclironioa (Bbq- 
iBlyna Club), Henry of Knighton in Twysden'a 
Decora Soriploma,Higden'8Polycbronicon.Troke. 
lowB (Rolls Ser.), Blaneford (Rolls S*r.). Wal- 
BiDgbanl(RollsSet■.) The chief publiabed original 
docamonta are tbose ooUected in Rymer'a Foyers, 
vol. ii. Bai^ord edition. Parlianientaiy Wrila, 
vol. ii. and the Rolls of Parliament, vol. i. TliB 
Xev. C. B. Hartahoine has pubtiahed an ilincrair 
of Ediracd II in CoUedanfa Arehcenlagica, 1. 
113-44, British Arch. Association. Tho best 
modern accounts of the ri'iga are in Scubbs's 
Oonat. Hist vol. ii. and Pauli'a Geschichte von 
England, vol. iv.] T. F. T. 

EDWAUD in (13! 3-1377), king, eldest 
son of Edward II and Isabella, daughter of 
Philip IV of France, was bom at Windsor 
Castle on 13 Nor. 1312, and was haptiaed on 
the 16th. Hia uncle, Prince Lewie of France, 
*nd other Frenchmen at the court ■wished 
that he should be named Lewis, but the Eng- 
liah lords would not allow it. The king, who 
is said to hsTe been consoled by his birth for 
the loss of Gaveston (Teokblowb, p. 79), 
gave him the counties of Chester and Flint, 



and be waa summoned to parliament as Earl 
of Chester in 1.320. He never bore the title 
of Prince of Wales. His tut^ir was Richard 
deUury [q. v.]. afterwards bishop of Durham. 
In order to avoid doing homage to Charles IV 
of France the king transferred the county of 
Ponthieu to him on 2 Sept, 132.1, and the 
dttchy of Aquitaine on the lOth (Firdera, ii. 
607,608). He sailed from Doveron the 12th. 
joined his mother in France, and did homage- 
t-o hia uncle for hia French fiefa ( Conl. Will. 
OF Nahsis, ii. 60). He accompanied his mother 
to Hainault, and visited tie court of Count 
William at Valenciennes in the summer of 
1326 ^Froib3ART, i. 23, 933). Isabella en- 
tered into an agreement on 27 Aug. to for- 
ward the marriage of her son t-o Philippa. the 
count's daughter (FsoissiRT, ed. Luce, Pref. 
cl). Edward landed with his mother and the 
force of Hainaulters and others that she had 
engaged to help her on 27 Se^t. at Colvasse, 
near Harwich, and accompanied her on her 
march towards London by Hury St . Edmunds, 
Cambridge, and Dunstable. Then, hearing 
that the king had left London, the queen 
turned westwards, and at Oxford Edward 
heard Bishop Oriton preach hia treasonable 
sermon [aee under Aduc op OrltonI. From 
Oxford ho was taken to WaUinglord and 
Gloucester, where thequeen'a army wasjoined 
by many lords. Thence the queen marched 
to Berkeley, and on 26 Oct. to Bristol. Tho 
town was surrendered to her, and the next 
day Hugh Despenser the elder [q. v.] waa 
put to death, and Edward was proclaimed 
guardian of the kingdom in the name of hia 
father and during his absence (FiEdera, ii. 
646). On the 28lh he iaaued writs for a par- 
liament in the king's name. ^^Hienthe par- '" 
liament met at Westminster on 7 Jon. 1327 
tbe king was a prisoner, and an oatli was 
taken by tbe prelates and lords to uphold the 
cause of the queen and her son. On the 13th 
Oriton demanded whether they would have 
the king or hia son to reign over them. The 
next day Edward was choaen, and was pre- 
sented to the people in Westminster Ilall 
(W. Dbne, Anglia Sapra, i. 367 ; for fuller- 
accounts of this revolution see SitrBss, Chron. 
of Edwards I and II, vol. ii. Introd., and 
Cantt. Biif. ii. 353 sq.) Aa Edward declared 
that he would not accept the crown without^ 
his father's consent, the king was forced to 
agree to hia own deposition. 

The new king's peace was proclaim^ on 
24 Jan. ; he was knighted by his cousin Henry, 
earl of Lancaster, and was crowned on Sun- 
day, the 2dth {Ftedera, ii. 684). He met his 
EarliamentonSFeb. : a counci I woa appointed 
Jr him, and the chief member of it waa Lan- 
caster, who was the young king's nominal 



Edward III 



49 



Edward III 



iruardian. All real power, however, was in 
the hands of the queen and Mortimer, and 
for the next four years Edward was entirely 
governed by them ( AvESBmar, p. 7). Isabella 
obtained so enormous a settlement that the 
king was left with only a third of the re- 
venues of the crown (Mubimitth, p. 53). 
Peace was made with J? ranee on 31 March ; 
both king^ were to restore whatever had been 
seized during time of peace, and Edward 
bound himself to pay fifty thousand marks to 
the French king {Foedera, ii. 700). Although 
negotiations were on foot for a permanent 
peace with Scotland, both countries prepared 
for war, and on 5 April the king ordered all 
who owed him service to meet at Newcastle 
on 29 May (i^. 702). He marched with his 
mother to York, where he was joined by Sir 
John of Hainault and a body of Flemish. 
While he was holding a feast on Trinity 
Sunday a fierce quarrel broke out between 
the Hainaulters and the English archers, in 
which many w^ere slain on both sides ( Jehan 
I.E Bel, i. 39 ; Froissart, i. 45). The truce 
was actually broken by the Scots, who in- 
vaded the northern counties under Randolph, 
«arl of Moray, and Douglas. Edward marched 
from York to Durham without gaining any 
tidings of the enemy, though he everywhere 
beheld signs of the devastation they had 
wrought. He crossed the Tyne, hoping to 
intercept the Scots on their return. After 
remainmg a week on the left bank of the 
river without finding the enemy, he ordered 
his troops, who had suffered much from con- 
stant ram, to recross the river. At last an 
-esquire named Thomas Rokesby brought him 
news of the enemy and led the army to the 
place where they were encamped, a service 
for which the king knighted him and gave 
him 100/. a year (Fwderaj ii. 717). The Scots, 
twenty-four thousand in number, occupied 
so strong a position on the right bank of 
the Wear that Edward, though at the head 
of sixty-two thousand men, did not dare to 
cross the river and attack them. It was 
therefore decided, as they seemed to be cut 
off firom returning to their country, to starve 
them into leaving their position and giving 
battle. Early in the morning of the fourth 
dav it was discovered that they had decamped. 
Edward followed them and found them even 
more strongly posted than before at Stanhope 
Park. Again the English encamped in front 
of them, and the first night after Edward's 
arrival Douglas, at the head of a small party, 
surprised the camp, penetrated to the King's 
tent, cut some of the cords, and led his men 
back with little loss (Bridlinoton, p. 90 ; 
Jbilajt lb Bel, i. 67 ; Froissart, i. 08, 279). 
After the two armies had faced each other 

VOL. XTII* 



for fifteen days or more the Scots again de- 
camped by night, and Edward gave up all 
hope of cutting oft* their retreat or forcing 
them to fight, llis army was unable to move 
with the same rapidity as the Scots, who were 
unencumbered with baggage; he was alto- 
gether outmanoeuvred, and led his troops back 
to York, much chagrined with the ill success 
of his first military enterprise. He had to 
pav 14,000/. to Sir John of Hainault for his 
nelp {Fcedera, ii. 708) ; he raised money from 
the Bardi, Florentine bankers {ib. 712), re- 
ceived a twentieth from the parliament that 
met at Lincoln on 15 Sept., and a tenth from 
the clergy of Canterbury (Knighton, c. 2552). 
The king s father was put to death on 21 Sept. 
On 15 Aug. Edward wrote from York to 
John XXII for a dispensation for his marriage 
with Philippa of Hainault, for his mother and 
the Countess of Hainault were both grand- 
children of Philip III of France (Fcedera, ii. 
712). The dispensation was granted ; Phi- 
lippa arrived in I^ndon on 24 Dec, and the 
marriage was performed at York on 24 Jan. 
1328 by William Melton, archbishop of York, 
the king being then little more than fifteen, 
and his bride still younger. At the parlia- 
ment held at York on 1 March peace was made 
with Scotland, and the treaty was confirmed 
in the parliament which met at Northamp- 
ton on 24 April. By this treaty Edward 
gave up all claims over the Scottish kingdom ; 
a marriage was arranged between his sister 
Joan and David, the heir of King Robert ; a 
perpetual alliance was made between the two 
Kingdoms, saving the alliance between Scot- 
land and France, and the Scottish king bound 
himself to pay Edward 20,000/. (4 May, ib. 
pp. 734, 740\ The treaty was held to be the 
work of Isaoella and Mortimer, and was ge- 
nerally condemned in England as shameful 
(AvESBURY, p. 7 ; Walsinqham, i. 192). Isa- 
bella seems to have got hold of a large part 
of the money paid by the Scottish king (Fas- 
dera, ii. 770, 785). Edward now sent two 
representatives to Paris to state his claim to 
the French throne, vacant by the death of 
Charles IV. He claimed as the heir of 
Philip IV, through his mother, Isabella. By 
the so-called Salic law Isabella and her heirs 
were barred from the succession, and even 
supposing that, though females were barred, 
they had nevertheless been held capable of 
transmitting a right to the throne, Charles of 
Evreux, the son of Jeanne of Navarre, daugh- 
ter of Philip IV, would have had at least as 
good a claim as Edward. The throne was 
adjudged to Philip of Valois, son of a younger 
brother of Philip IV. The insolence and ra- 
pacity of the queen-mother and Mortimer 
gave deep offence to the nobles, and the 



B 



Edward III 



so 



Edward III 



nation generally was scandalised at the con- 
nection that was said to exist between them 
and enraged at the dishonourable peace with 
Scotland. Lancaster, the head of the party 
which held to the policy of the * ordainers * 
of the last reign, and the chief lord of the 
council, was denied access to the king, and 
found himself virtually powerless. He de- 
termined to make a stand against the tyranny 
of the favourite, and, hearing that Mortimer 
had come up to the parliament at Salisbury 
on 24 Oct. with an armed retinue, declared 
that he would not attend, and remained at 
Winchester under arms with some of his 
party. His action was upheld by the king's 
uncles, the Earls of Kent and Norfolk, by 
Stratford, bishop of Winchester, and others. 
Edward was forced to adjourn the parliament 
till the following February, and Mortimer 
wished him to march at once to Winchester 
against the earl. Shortly afterwards the king 
rode with Mortimer and the queen to ravage 
the earVs lands (W. Dene, Anglia Sacra, i. 
309: Knighton, c. 2557). Lancaster made a 
confederation against the favourite at London 
on 2 Jan. 1329 (Barnes, p. 31), and marched 
with a considerable force to Bedford in the 
hope of meeting him. Meanwhile his town of 
Leicester was surrendered to Mortimer and 
the queen, and before long Kent and Norfolk 
withdrew from him. Peace was made be- 
tween the two parties by Mepeham, archbishop 
of Canterbury, and Lord Beaumont and some 
other followers of the earl were forced to take 
shelter in France. 

Earlv in February messengers came from 
Philip Vl of France to Edward at Windsor, 
bidding him come and do homage for his 
Frencn fiefs. He had received a like sum- 
mons the year before, and now he laid the 
matter before the magnates assembled in par- 
liament at Westminster. When they decided 
that he should obey the summons he appointed 
a proctor to declare that his homage did not 
prejudice his claim to the French crown. On 
20 May he sailed from Dover, leaving his 
brother John, earl of Cornwall, as guardian 
of the kingdom {Fwdera, ii. 763, 764). He 
landed at Whit8and,and thence went to Bou- 
logne, and so to Montreuil, where Philip's 
messengers met him and conducted him to 
Amiens. There Philip awaited him with the 
kings of Bohemia, Navarre, and Majorca, and 
many princes and lords whom he had invited 
to witness the ceremony. The homage was 
done in the choir of Amiens Cathedral on 
6 June, but the ceremony could scarcely have 
pleased Philip, for Edward appeared in a robe 
of crimson velvet worked with leopards in 
gold and wearing his crown, sword, and 
spurs. Philip demanded liege homage, which 



was done bareheaded and with ungirt sword. 
Edward refused this, and he was forced to 
accept general homage on Edward's promise 
that on his return he would search the re- 
cords of his kingdom, and if liege homage 
was due would send over an acknowledg- 
ment by letters patent. Then Edward de- 
manded restitution of certain lands that 
had been taken from his father. To this 
Philip answered that they had been taken 
in war (meaning that they did not come 
under the terms of the treaty of 1327), and 
that if Edward had any cause of complaint he 
should bring it before the parliament of Paris 
{ih, p. 765; Cont. Will, of Nangis, ii. 107). 
Edward returned to England on the 11th, 
well pleased with his visit and the honour 
that had been done him, and at once pro- 
posed marriages between his sister Eleanor 
and Philip's eldest son, and between his 
brother Jonn and a daughter of Philip (ib, pp. 
766, 777) ; but these proposals came to naught. 
Meanwhile Mortimer and Isabella had not 
forgiven the attempt that had been made 
against them, and Mortimer is said to have 
contrived a scheme which enabled him to ac- 
cuse the Earl of Kent of treason [for particu- 
lars see under Edkuni) of Woodstock], The 
earl was tried by his peers, unjustly con- 
demned, and put todeatn on 19 March 1330, 
Isabella and Mortimer hastening on his exe- 
cution for fear that the king might interfere 
to prevent it, and, as it seems, giving the 
order for it without the king's knowledge 
(Knighton, c. 2557 ; Baknes, p. 41). On 
4 March Queen Philippa was crowned, and 
on 15 June she bore Edward his first-bom 
child, Edward, afterwards called the Black 
Prince [q. v.] The birth of his son seems to 
have determined Edward to free himself £rom 
the thraldom in which he was kept by his 
mother and her favourite. When parliament 
met at Nottingham in October, Isabella and 
Mortimer took up their abode in the castle, 
which was closely kept. The king consulted 
with some of his friends, and especially with 
William Montacute, how they might seize 
Mortimer. They, and the king with them, 
entered the castle by night through an under- 
ground passage and seized Mortimer and some 
of his party. He was taken to London, con- 
demned without trial by his peers as noto- 
riously guilty of several treasonable acts, and 
particularly of the death of the late king, and 
hanged on 29 Nov. By the king's command 
the lords passed sentence on Sir Simon Bere- 
ford, one of Mortimer's abettors, though they 
were not his peers, and he also was hanged. 
A pension was allotted to the queen-mother, 
ana she was kept until her death in a kind 
of honourable confinement at Castle Rising 



Edward III 



SI 



Edward III 



in Norfolk, where the king visited her every 
year. 

The overthrow of Mortimer made Edward 
at the age of eighteen a king in fact as well 
as in name. In person he was graceful, and 
his face was 'as the f&ce of a god' (^Cont, 
MuBixrru, n. 226). His manners were 
courtly and his voice winning. He was 
strong and active, and loved hunting, hawk- 
ing, tne practice of knightly exercises, and, 
above all, war itself. Considerable care must 
have been spent on his education, for he 
certainly spoke English as well as French 
(Fkoissabt, i. 266 sq., 306, 324, 360, iv. 290, 
326), and evidently understood German. He 
was fearless in battle, and, though over-fond 
of pleasure, was until his later years ener- 
getic in all his undertakings. Although ac- 
cording to modem notions his ambition is to 
be reckoned a grave defect in his character, 
it seemed in his day a kingly quality. Nor 
were his wars undertaken without cause, or 
indeed, according to the ideas of the time, 
without ample justification. His attempts 
to bring Scotland under his power were at 
first merely a continuation of an inherited 
policy that it would have been held shameful 
to repudiate, and later were forced upon him 
by tne alliance between that countij and 
Prance. And the French war was in the 
first instance provoked by the aggressions of 
Philip, though Edward's assumption of the 
title of king of France, a measure of political 
expedieiicy, rendered peace impossible. He 
was liberal in his gifts, magnificent in his 
doings, profuse in his expenditure, and, though 
not boastful, inordinately ostentatious. No 
sense of duty beyond what was then held 
to become a knight influenced his conduct. 
While he was not wantonly cruel he was 
hard-hearted ; his private life was immoral, 
and his old age was dishonoured by indul- 

Snce in a shameful j^assion. As a king he 
d no settled principles of constitutional 
policy. Regarding his kingship mainly as 
the means of raising the money he needed 
for his wars and his pleasures, he neither 
strove to preserve prerogatives as the just 
rights of the crown, nor yielded anything 
out of consideration for the rights or wel- 
fiure of his subjects. Although the early 
glories of his reign were greeted with ap- 
plause, he never won the love of his people ; 
they groaned under the effects of his extrava- 
gance, and fled at his coming lest his officers 
should seize their goods. His commercial 
policy was enlightened, and has won him 
the title of the ' father of English commerce' 
(Hallax, Const Hist iii. 321), but it was 
mainly inspired by selfish motives, and he 
never scrupled to sacrifice the interests of 



the English merchants to obtain a supply of 
money or secure an ally. In foreign pohtics 
he showed genius ; his alliances were well 
devised and skilfully obtained, but he seems 
to have expected more from his allies than 
they were likely to do for him, for England 
still stood so far apart from continental 
affairs that her alliance was not of much 
practical importance, except commercially. 
As a leader in war Edward could order a 
battle and inspire his army with his own 
confidence, but he could not plan a cam- 
paign; he was rash, and left too much to 
chance. During the first part of his reign 
he paid much attention to naval administra- 
tion; he successfully asserted the maritime 
supremacy of the country, and was entitled 
by parliament the * king of the sea ' (Rot 
Pari, ii. 311) ; he neglected the navy in his 
later vears. Little as the nation owed him 
in otter respects, his achievements by sea 
and land made the English name respected. 
Apart from the story of these acts the chief 
interest of the reign is foreipi to the purpose 
of a biographical sketch ; it consists in the 
transition that it witnessed from mediaeval 
to modem systems and ideas (Stitbbs, Const 
Hist ii. 376, which should be consulted for 
an estimate of Edward's character). Parlia^ 
ment adopted its present division into two 
houses, and in various points gradually gained 
on the prerogative. In church matters, papal 
usurpations were met by direct and decisive 
legislation, an anti-clerical party appeared, 
the wealth of the church was attached, and 
a protest was made against clerical adminis- 
tration. As r^^rds jurisdiction, the reign 
saw a separation between the judicial work 
of the council and of the chancellor, who 
now began to act as an independent judge 
of equity. Chivalry, already decaying, and 
feudalism, already long decayed, received a 
deathblow from the use of gunpowder. Other 
and wider social changes followed the ' great 
pestilence' — an increase in the importance 
of capital in trade and the rise of journeymen 
as a distinct class, the rapid overthrow of 
villenage, and the appearance of tenant-far- 
mers and paid farm labourers as distinct 
classes. These and many more changes, which 
cannot be discussed in a narrative ofthe king's 
life, mark the reign as a period in which old 
things were passing away and the England 
of our own day began to be formed. 

In spite of the treaty of 1327 matters 
remained unsettled between the kings of 
England and France; Philip delayed the 
promised restitutions and disturbed Edward's 
possessions in Aquitaine. Saintes was taken 
by the Duke of Alen^on in 1329, and Edward 
in consequence applied to parliament for a 

£9 



Edward III 



52 



Edward III 



subsidy in case of war. On 1 May 1330 ne- 
gotiations were concluded at Bois-de-Vin- 
cennes, but the question of the nature of 
the homage was left unsettled by Edward 
{FcBderttf li. 791), who was summoned to do 
liege homage on 29 July and did not attend 
(t6. p. 797). When, however, he became his 
own master, he adopted a wiser policy, and on 
31 March 1331 acknowledged that he held 
the duchy of Guyenne and the county of 
Ponthieu by liege homage as a peer of France 
(ib. p. 813). On Mortimer's downfall he ap- 
pointed two of the Lancastrian party as his 
chief ministers, Archbishop Melton as trea- 
surer, and Stratford as chancellor. He now 
crossed to France with Stratford and a few 
companions disguised as merchants, pretend- 
ing, as he caused to be proclaimed in Lon- 
don, that he was about to perform a vow (ib, 
p. 815), for he feared that his people would 
believe, as in fact they did, that he was gone 
to do liege homage (Uemingburgh, ii. 303). 
He embarked on 4 April. While he was in 
France Philip accepted his acknowledgment 
as to the homage, and promised to restore 
Saintes and to pay damages (lA. n. 81 6\ Ed- 
ward returned on the 20th, ana celeorated 
his return by tournaments at Dartford in 
Kent and in Cheapside (Avesbtjbt, p. 10). 
The restitution of Agenois, however, re- 
mained imsettled, and in the parliament of 
80 Sept. the chancellor asked the estates 
whether the matter should be settled by war 
or negotiation, and they declared for negotia- 
tion {Bof. Pari. ii. 61). The king was ad- 
vised to visit Ireland, where the royal interest 
had begun to decline, but the matter was 
deferred. Lawlessness had broken out in 
the northern counties, and he had to take 
active measures against some outlaws who 
had seized and put to ransom his chief justice. 
Sir Richard Willoughby, near Grantham 
(Knighton, c. 2559). Early in 1332 he in- 
vited Flemish weavers to settle in England 
in order to teach the manufacture of fine 
cloth ; for the prosperity of the kingdom 
largely depended on its wool, and the crown 
drew much revenue fix)m the trade in it. 
The foreign workmen were at first regarded 
with much dislike, but the king protected 
them, and they greatly improved the woollen 
manufacture. Edward received an invitation 
from Philip to join him in a crusade, and 
though willing to agree put the matter off 
for three years at the request of the parlia- 
ment which met 16 March. On 25 June he 
laid a tallage on his demesne. In order to 
avoid this imconstitutional measure the par- 
liament of 9 Sept. granted him a subsidy, 
and in return he recalled hb order and pro- 
mised not to levy tallage save as his ances- 



tors had done and according to his right 
(Hot Far I. ii. 6Q). Meanwhile Lord Beau- 
mont brought Edward Baliol [q . v.] to Eng- 
land, and Baliol offered to do the king 
homage if he would place him on the Scot^ 
tish throne. Edward refused, and even or- 
dered that he and his party should be pre- 
vented from crossing the marches, declaring 
that he would respect the treaty of North- 
ampton (Fcedera, ii. 843), for he was bound 
to pay 20,000/. to the pope if he broke it. 
Nevertheless he dealt subtly. Baliol was 
crowned on 24 Sept. in opposition to the 
young king David II, and on 23 Nov. de- 
clared at Roxburgh that he owed his crown 
to the help given him by Edward's subjects 
and allowed by Edward, and that he was his 
liegeman, and promised him the town of 
Berwick, and offered to marry his sister Joan, 
David's queen (ib. p. 847). Edward sum- 
moned a parliament to meet at York on 
4 Dec. to advise him what policy he should 
pursue ; few attended, and it was adjourned 
to 20 Jan. Meanwhile Baliol lost his king- 
dom and fled into England. 

The parliament advised Edward to write 
to the pope and the French king, declaring 
that the Scots had broken the treaty. This 
! they seem actually to have done on 21 March 
by a raid on Gilsland in Cumberland (Hem- 
INGBTJRGH, ii. 307). The raid was revenged ; 
Sir William Douglas was taken, and Edward, 
who was then at Pontefi^ct waiting for his 
army to assemble, ordered that he should 
be kept in fetters (Fwdera, ii. 856). On 
23 April Edward laid siege to Berwick. The 
garrison promised to surrender if not relieved 
by a certain day, and gave hostages. Sir 
Archibald Douglas attempted to relieve the 
town, and some of his men entered it ; he 
then led his force to plunder Northumber- 
land. The garrison refused to surrender on 
the ground that they had received succour, 
and Edward hanged one of the hostages, the 
son of Sir Thomas Seton, before the town 
(Bridlington, p. 113; Fordun, iv. 1022; 
Hailes, iii. 96 sq.) Douglas now recrossed 
the Tweed, came to the relief of Berwick, 
and encamped at Dunsepark on 18 July. 
Edward occupied Halidon Hill, to the west 
of the town, llis army was in great danger, 
and was hemmed in by the sea, the Tweed, 
the garrison of Berwick, and the Scottish 
host, which far outnumbered the English 
(Heminoburgh, ii. 309). On the 20th he 
drew up his men in four battles, placing his 
archers on the wings of each ; all fought on 
foot, and he himself in the van. The £ng>- 
lish archers began the fight ; the Scots ml 
in great numbers, and others fled ; the rest 
charged up the hill and engaged the enemj 



Edward III 



S3 



Edward III 



hand to hand. They were defeated with 
tremendous loss; many nohles were slain, 
and it was commonly said in England that 
the war was over, tor that there was not 
a Scot left to raise a force or lead it to 
battle (MirRiMUTH,p. 71). Edward ordered 
a general thanksgiving for this victory (^FtB- 
derOf ii. 866). Berwick was at once sur- 
rendered, and he offered privileges to English 
merchants and others who would colonise 
it. He received the homage of the Earl of 
March and other lords, and, having restored 
Baliol to the throne, returned southwards 
and visited several shrines, especially in Essex. 
In November he moved northwards, and kept 
Christmas at York. He was highly displeased 
with the pope for appointing Adam of Orlton 
by provision to the see of Winchester at the 
request of the French king. In February 1334 
he received BalioFs surrender of all Scotland 
comprised in the ancient district of Lothian. 
On the 21st he held a parliament at York, and 
agreed that purveyance, a prerogative that 
pressed sorely on the people, should only be 
made on behalf of the king {liot. Fori. ii. 378). 
He kept Whitsuntide at Newcastle, and there 
on 12 June Baliol renewed his concessions and 
did homage (Fcedera, ii. 888). Edward, after 
appointing officers to administer the govern- 
ment in Lothian, returned to Windsor. On 
10 July he held a council at Nottingham, 
where he again spoke of the proposed crusade, 
for he believed that matters were now settled 
with Scotland. A parliament was summoned, 
and when it met on 24 Sept. Baliol had again 
been expelled. The king obtained a grant, 
and about 1 Nov. marched into Scotland. 
Just before he started Robert of Artois, who 
had a bitter quarrel with King Philip, sought 
refuge at his court ; he received him with 
honour, and Robert never ceased to stir him 
up against the French king. Edward passed 
through Lothian without meeting opposition, 
again restored Baliol, and spent Christmas 
at Roxburgh. At mid-Lent 1335 he gave 
audience at Gedling, near Nottingham, to 
ambassadors from Fhilip sent to urge him 
to make peace with S(X)tland ; he refused, 
but granted a truce (tb. ii. 903). In July 
he entered Scotland by Carlisle, marched to 
Glasgow, was joined by Baliol, proceeded 
to Perth, ravaged the north, and returned to 
Perth, where on 18 Aug. he received the sub- 
mission of the Earl of Atholl, whom he left 
governor under Baliol. Both Philip and 
Benedict XII, who was wholly under Philip's 
control, were now pressing him to make 
peace. The Scots were helped by money from 
France, and their ships were fitted out in 
French ports (tft. p. 91 1"); an invasion was 
expected in August, ana captains were ap- 



pointed to command the Londoners in case it 
took place (i^. p. 917). The king's son, the 
voung Earl of Chester, was sQut to Notting- 
ham Castle for safet v, and the Isle of Wight 
and the Channel islands were fortified {ib, 
p. 919). Edward's seneschals in Aquitaine 
were also aggrieved by the French king. On 
23 Nov. Edward made a truce with his enemies 
in Scotland, which was prolonged at the re- 
quest of the pope (ib. pp. 926, 928). He spent 
Christmas at Newcastle. The party of Bruce, 
however, gained strength, Atholl was sur- 
prised and slain, and before the end of the year 
Baliol's cause was again depressed. Edward, 
who had returned to the south in February, on 
7 April appointed Henry of Lancaster to com- 
mand an army against the Scots (ib. p. 936), 
and in June entered Scotland himself with a 
large force, marched to Perth, and then by 
Dunkeld, through Atholl and Moray to Elgin 
and Inverness, ravaging as he went. The 
regent, Sir Andrew Murray, refused to give 
him battle, and, leaving a garrison in Perth 
and a fleet in the Forth, he returned to Eng- 
land. Meanwhile Philip expelled Edward's 
seneschals from Agenois, and in August openly 
declared that he should help the Scots (ib, 
p. 944). On the 16th Edward, hearing that 
ships were being fitted out in Norman and 
Breton ports to act against England, bade his 
admirals put to sea, reminding them that his 
* progenitors, kings of England, had been lords 
of the English sea on every side,' and that he 
would not allow his honour to be diminished 
(Nicolas, Royal Navy, ii. 17). Some of these 
ships attacked certain English ships off the 
Isle of Wight and carried off prizes. War 
with France now seemed certain, and the par- 
liament that met at Nottingham on 6 Sept. 
granted the king a tenth and a fifteenth, be- 
sides the subsidy of the same amount granted 
in March, together with 40«. a sack on wool 
exported by denizens and 60«. from aliens. 
A body of merchants was specially summoned 
by the king to this parliament, probably in 
order to obtain their consent to the custom 
on wool (Const. Hist. ii. 379). Moreover, 
Edward seized all the money laid up in the 
cathedral churches for the crusade. In March 
1337 the exportation of wool was forbidden 
by statute until the king and council should 
determine what should be done. A heavy 
custom was laid on the sack and woolfells 
by ordinance, an unconstitutional act, though 
to some extent sanctioned by parliament (ib. 
p. 526). The importation of cloth was also 
forbidden by statute, but foreign workmen 
were encouraged to settle here. 

Edward now set about forming alliances 
in order to hem Philip in on the north and 
east, and sent Montacute, whom he created 



Edward III 



54 



Edward III 



Earl of Salisbury, and others to make alliance 
with foreign powers, giving them authority, 
in spite of the interests of the English mer- 
chants, to make arrangements about the wool 
trade (i^*V' 966 ; Longman, i. lOSV Lewis, 
count of Flanders, was inclined to tne French 
alliance, but his people knew their own inte- 
rest better, for their wealth depended on 
English wool, and the year before, when the 
count had arrested English merchants, the 
king had seized all their merchants and ships 
(FosderOf ii. 948). James van Artevelde, a 
rich and highly connected citizen of Ghent, 
and the leader of the Flemish traders who 
were opposed to the count, entered into ne- 
gotiations with Edward and procured him 
the alliance of Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, and 
Cassel (Jehan lb Bel, p. 1327 ; FR0i88ART,i. 
894). Edward also gained the Duke of Bra- 
bant as an ally by permitting staples for wool 
to be set up in Brussels, Mechlin, and Lou- 
vain {FoederOf p. 959), and made treaties for 
supplies of troops with his brothers-in-law the 
Count of Gueldres and the margrave of Juliers, 
and his father-in-law the Count of Hainault 
(ib. p. 970). Further, he negotiated with the 
Count Palatine about his appointment as 
imperial vicar, and on 26 Aug. made a treaty 
for the hire of troops with the Emperor Lewis 
of Bavaria (ib, p. 991). This nighly dis- 
pleased Benedict XII, who was at deadly 
leud with Lewis, and was besides quite in 
the hands of Philip, and he remonstrated 
with Edward, who replied courteously but 
without giving way. Edward tried hard to 
gain the Count of Flanders, and proposed a 
marriage between the count's son and his 
little daughter Joan (tft. pp.967, 998), though 
at the same time he offered her to Otto, duke 
of Austria, for his son {ib. p. 1001). In March 
the French burnt Portsmouth and ravaged 
Guernsey and Jersey (ib. p. 989 ; Nicolas). 
The king made great preparations for war ; 
on 1 July he took all the property of the 
alien priories into his own hands ; pawned 
his jewels, and in order to interest his people 
in his cause issued a schedule of the oners of 
peace he had made to Philip, which he ordered 
should be read in all county courts {Focdera^ 
p. 994). On 7 Oct. he wrote letters to his allies, 
styling himself * king of France' (tft.p. 1001). 
Count Lewis, who was now expelled from 
Flanders by his subjects, kept a garrison at 
Cadsand under his brother Sir Guy, the bastard 
of Flanders, which tried to intercept the king's 
ambassadors and did harm to his allies the 
Flemings. Edward declared he * would soon 
settle that business,' and sent a fleet under 
Sir Walter Manny and Henry of Lancaster, 
earl of Derby, against it. They gained a 
complete victory on 10 Nov., and brought 



back Sir Guy prisoner. Then two cardinals 
came to England to makepeace, and Edward 
promised that he would not invade France 
until 1 March 1338, and afterwards extended 
the term (ib, pp. 1009, 1014). 

Philip, however, continued his aggressions 
on the kind's French dominions, and war be- 
came imminent. In February parliament 
granted the king half the wool of the king- 
dom, twenty thousand sacks, to be deliver^ 
at Ajitwerp, where he hoped to sell it well, 
and on 16 July he sailed firom Orwell in 
Suffolk with two hundred large ships for 
Antwerp, for he intended to invade France 
from that side in company with his allies. 
He found that they were by no means ready 
to act with him, the princes who held of the 
emperor being unwilhng to act without his 
direct sanction, and he remained for some 
time in enforced inactivity, spending large 
sums on the pay of his army, and keeping 
much state at tlie monastery of St. Bernard 
at Antwerp. Meanwhile some French and 
Spanish galleys sacked Southampton and 
captured some English ships, and among them 
the ' cog 'Christopher, the largest of the king's 
vessels ( Cont. Will, of Nangis ; Minot, Po/t- 
tical SongSj i. 64 sq.) At last on 6 Sept. a 
meeting took place between Edward and the 
emperor at Coblentz. The interview was held 
in the market-place with much magnificence 
(Knighton, c. 2571; Froissart, i. 425). 
Lewis appointed Edward imperial vicar, and 
expected him to kiss his foot, which he re- 
fused to do on the ground that he was * an 
anointed king ' ( Walsingham, i. 223). Ed- 
ward now held courts at Arques and other 
places, heard causes as the emperor's repre- 
sentative, and received homages. Still his 
allies did not move, though they agreed to 
recover Cambray for the empire in the follow- 
ing summer. Influenced probably by the 
pope's remonstrances (ib. i. 208 seq.), Ed- 
ward in October sent ambassadors to treat 
with Philip, and though he at first forbade 
them to address Philip as king, he after- 
wards allowed them to do so, probablv at 
Benedict's request (Fccdera, ii. 1060, 1008). 
Nothing came of their mission. In 1339 he 
was in want of money, pawned his cro^Tis, and 
borrowed fiftv-four thousand florins of three 
burghers of Mechlin ri^.pp. 1073, 1085). After 
many delays he ana his allies laid siege to 
Cambray (cannon are said to have been used 
by the besieging army, Nicolas, Royal Navy^ 
i. 184; it is also said by Barboub, iii. 136, 
ed. Pinkerton, that * crakys of war ' had been 
used by Edward in Scotland in 1327; this, 
however, is highly doubtful, Brackenburt, 
Ancient Cannon in Europe, pt. i.) Finding 
Cambray difficult to take, the allies gave up 



Edward III 



55 



Edward III 



the fiiege, and in October Edward crossed 
the Scheldt into France. On coming to the 
river he was left by the Counts of Namur 
and Hainault, who held of the French crown. 
He pillaged Vermandois, and advanced to 
La ]namengrie. Here he was confronted by 
iPhilip, and sent a herald to demand battle. 
Philip appointed a day, and he drew up his 
army witn much skill in a strong position, 
placing the horses and baggage in a wood at 
his rear, and commanding the van in person 
on foot ( AvESBUBT, p. 46). When the ap- 
pointed oay came, Philip would not attack 
nim, though the French army was much 
stronger than his, and knowing that he could 
put but little confidence in his allies he led 
them back to Hainault, parted from them, 
and returned to Brussels. After entering 
into a close alliance w^ith the Duke of Bra- 
bant and the cities of Brabant and Flanders, 
he spent Christmas at Antwerp with much 
pomp. Van Artevelde now pointed out that 
tf he wanted the help of tne Flemings he 
must take the title of 'king of France,' which 
he had as yet only used incidentally, for he 
would then become their superior lord, and 
they would not incur a penalty which they 
had bound themselves to pay to the pope in 
case they made war on the king of France. 
This was insisted on by the Flemish cities 
and lords at a parliament at Brussels, and on 
26 Jan. 1340 Edward assumed the title of 
jring of France, and quartered the lilies of 
France with the leopards of England (Nico- 
ULS, Chnmology, p. 318; Barnes, p. 155). 

Meanwhile several attacks had been made 
on the English coast by French and Genoese 
ships ; the war with Scotland still went on in 
a languid fashion, and the people, who saw no 
return for the sacrifices they had made for 
the French war, were getting tired of it. In 
the January parliament of this year the com- 
mons made their ofier of supplies conditional 
on the acceptance of certaui articles. This 
determined the king to return. His debts, 
however, now amounted to 30,000/., and his 
creditors wanted some security before they 
let him go. He left his queen behind, and 
further left the Earls of Derby and Salisbury 
and others as pledges that he would shortly 
return {Cont, Will, of Naxgis, ii. 107). He 
landed at Orwell on 21 Feb. and held a par- 
liament in March, which granted him large 
supplies for two years, and among them the 
ninth sheaf, fleece, and lamb, and 40«. on the 
sack of wool, while on his side certain sta- 
tutes were framed to meet the complaints of 
the commons— tallages were not to be levied 
by the king on his demesne ; the assumption 
of the title of king of France was not to 
faring England into subjection to France; 



the crown was not to abuse its rights of 
purveyance, presentation to vacant benefices, 
and the like (Const Hist, ii. 382 ; Rot, Pari. 
ii. 113). After raising all the money he could, 
Edward was about to embark again, and was 
at Ipswich at Whitsuntide, when the chan- 
cellor, Stratford, who had been translated to 
the see of Canterbury in 1333, and his ad- 
miral. Sir John Morley, told him that' they 
had news that the French fleet was in the 
Sluys waiting to intercept him, and begged 
him not to sail. * I will go,* he said, * and you 
who are afraid without cause may stay at 
home * (AvESBURY, p. 55). He sailed in the 
cog Thomas on the 22nd, with about two hun- 
dred vessels, and was Joined by the northern 
squadron of about flfty sail under Morley. 
Next day off" Blankenberg he saw the masts 
of the enemy*8 fleet in tne Sluys, and sent 
knights to reconnoitre from the coast. As 
after their return the tide did not serve, Ed- 
ward did not attack that day, and prepared 
for battle about 11 a.m. on the 24th. The 
French fleet of 190 galleys and great barges 
was superior to his in strength (Jehan lb 
Bel, i. 171), for many of his ships were small. 
Nineteen of their ships were the biggest that 
had ever been seen, and grandest oi all was 
the Christopher that had been taken from 
the English. Edward's fleet seems to have 
been * to the leeward and westward ' of the 
enemy, and about noon he ordered his ships 
to sail on the starboard tack, so as to get tne 
wind, which presumably was north-east, and 
avoid having the sun in the faces of the 
archers. Then, having made their tack and 
got the wind, his ships entered the port and 
engaged just inside it. The French ships 
seem to have hugged the shore, and could 
not manoeuvre, for they were lashed together 
in four lines. All in three of the lines were 
taken or sunk, the Christopher and other 
English ships he'mg retaken ; the fourth line 
escaped in the darKness,forthe battle lasted 
into the night. The king's victory was com- 
plete, and the naval power of France was 
destroyed (Nicolas, Royal Navyj ii. 48 seq., 
501, where references are given). Edward's 
campaign was futile. The last grant was not 
yet turned into money, and was already 
pledged, and the king wrote urgently for 
supplies {Fwdera, ii. 1130). On 23 July he 
and his allies besieged Toumay, and on the 
26th he wrote a letter to * Philip of Valois ' 
inviting him to meet him in single combat or 
with a nundred men each, and so to end the 
war. Philip answered that the letter was 
not addressed to him, and that he would drive 
him out of France at hisown will(i6.p. 1131). 
The siege lasted eleven weeks. No money 
came to Edward; Hobert of Artois was 



' Edward III 



S6 



Edward III 



defeated at St. Omer ; Philip had overrun a 
large part of Guyenne ; and the Scots were 
gaining ground rapidly. On 25 Sept. a truce 
was made between England and France and 
Scotland, and the king dismissed his arm^. 
He was forced to leave the Earl of Derby m 
prison in Flanders for his debts (ib. p. 1143), 
and, after a stormy passage of three days, 
arrived unexpectedly at the Tower of London 
on the night of 30 Nov. (ib, p. 1141). 

The next day Edward dismissed his chan- 
cellor, the Bishop of Chichester, brother of 
Archbishop Stratford,who had lately resigned 
the chancellorship, and his treasurer, ana im- 
prisoned several judges and others. This 
sudden move was caused by his irritation at 
not having received the supplies he needed, 
and by the influence of the archbishop's ene- 
mies, of whom some were opposed to clerical 
administration and others were jealous of him 
and belonged to a court party. The arch- 
bishop tooK refuge at Canterbury, and on 
14 Dec. the king gave the great seal to Sir 
Robert Bourchier [q. v.], the first lay chan- 
cellor, and appointed a lay treasurer. He 
required Stratford to pay to the merchants of 
Louvain debts for which he had become surety 
on Edward's own behalf, declaring that other- 
wise he, the king, should have to go to prison, 
and summoned him to appear. Stratford re- 
plied by preaching irritating sermons and 
forbidding the clergy to pay the late grant. 
Edward on 12 Feb. 1341 put forth a letter 
or pamphlet, called the Ubellus famosusy 
agamst Stratford, accusing the archbishop 
of urging him to undertake the war, and of 
having occasioned his failure before Tour- 
nay by retarding supplies, and containing 
much vague and unworthy abuse. Stratford s 
answer was dignified, and his case was strong, 
for it is pretty evident that the king's dis- 
satisfaction with him was partly caused by 
his desire for peace. The kmg made a weak 
rejoinder. He had incited the Duke of Bra- 
bant to summon Stratford to answer in his 
court for the bonds into which he had en- 
tered; he wrote to Benedict XII against 
him, cited him to answer charges in the ex- 
chequer court, tried to prevent his taking 
his seat in the parliament of 23 April, and 
caused articles of accusation to be laid before 
the commons. Stratford declared that he 
would only answer for his conduct before 
his peers. The lords reported that this was 
their privilege, and thus secured it for their 
order. The king was checked, and on 7 May 
was reconciled to the archbishop (Bibching- 
TON, p. 20 seq. ; Avbsbuky, p. 71 ; Heh- 
INOBUROH, ii. 363 seq.; Faderaj ii. 1143, 
1147, 1162; Const Hut. ii. 384; Collier, 
iii. 71). In return for help in collecting the 



grant of 1340 for this year, he conceded a 
statute providing that ministers should be 
appointed in parliament with the advice of 
his lords and counsellors, should be sworn in 
parliament, and should be liable to be called 
upon to answer for their actions. On 1 Oct., 
however, he issued letters annulling this sta- 
tute and declaring openly that he nad ' dis- 
sembled ' in order to gain his purpose (Ftsdera, 
ii. 177). No parliament was summoned for 
two years after this shameful breach of faith. 
King David's cause was now prospering in 
Scotland, and in the autumn Edward marched 
nortbwards, intending to carry on the war on 
a large scale after Christmas (ib. ii. 1181). 
He is said to have relieved the castle of Wark, 
then besieged during a Scottish raid, and to 
have fallen in love with the Countess of 
Salisbury, who held it for her husband, then 
a captive in France, but she did not return 
his passion (Jehan lb Bel, i. 266, Fkois- 
8AKT, ii. 131, who both tell the story at con- 
siderable length). Jehan le Bel says thati 
he afterwards violated the lady (ii. 131); 
Froissart indignantly denies this, but only in 
the late Amiens recension (iii. 293). Con- 
siderable doubt has been thrown upon the 
story because the countess was much older 
than the king, and because in May Edward 
made an agreement for the earl's release 
(Fcedera, ii. 1193). The friendship that 
existed between the king and the earl would 
give a peculiarly dark character to Edward's 
crime if it was committed. It is possible 
that Jehan le Bel may have been mistaken 
as to the countess, but scarcely possible that 
Edward did not commit the crime of which 
he is accused upon some lady or other. The 
fleet which he ordered to meet him was 
damaged by a gale ; Stirling and Edinburgh 
were taken by the Scots, and he made a truce 
at Newcastle. After spending Christmas at 
Melrose he returned to England. In the 
course of 1341 Lewis of Bavaria, who had 
repented of his alliance with him soon after 
he had made it, revoked his appointment as 
imperial vicar and allied himself with France. 
Edward's attempts to penetrate into France 
through Flanders had only involved him in 
debt, and his Flemish and German allies had 
failed to give him efficient help. Now a new- 
way of attack was opened to him, for in 
September John of Montfort came to him 
offering to hold Brittany of him if he would 
help him against Charles of Blois, to whom 
the duchy had been adjudged (ib. ii. 1176). 
On 20 March 13^42 Edward sent a force over 
to Brittany under Sir Walter Manny, and 
in October he landed in person at Brest 
(Knighton, c. 2682), laid siege to Yannes, 
Rennes, and Nantes, without taking any of 



Edward III 



57 



Edward III 



theniy and rayafed the country. The Duke 
of Normandy, Philip's son, advanced against 
him with a much larger force, but did not 
dare to attack him, for he posted his troops 
well. Still John kept the king shut in a 
comer near Vannes while the Genoese and 
Spanish fleets intercepted ships bringing pro- 
Tisions from England, and both armies suf- 
fered considerably. On 19 Jan. 1343 a truce 
for three years was made at Ste.-Madeleine, 
near Vannes, by the intervention of Pope 
Clement VI, and Edward re-embarked. After 
a tempestuous voyage, which is said to have 
lasted five weeks (ti. c. 2583), he landed at 
Weymouth on 2 March {FcederOy ii. 1222). 
In the parliament of 28 April the commons 
petitioned, among other articles, that the 
merchants should not {^ant the tax of 40s, 
on the sack of wool without their consent, 
and that statutes might not be annulled, 
as after the last parliament held in 1341. In 
conjunction with the lords they also peti- 
tioned against the papal usurpation of ap- 
fointing to benefices by provision. On 
Sept. the king wrote to the pope against 
reservations and provisions, complaining that 
by their means the revenues of the church 
were given to foreigners, that the rights of 
patrons were defeated, and that the authority 
of the royal courts was diminished (Walsinq- 
HAM, L 255). Moreover on 30 Jan. 1344 he 
ordered that all persons bringing bulls of pro- 
Tision into the Kingdom should be arrested 
(^Fctdera, iii. 2). In this month the king held 
a ' Round Table,' or tournament and feast, at 
Windsor with extraordinary magnificence, 
and vowed at the altar of the castle chapel 
that he would restore the * Round Table of 
Arthur. With this intention he built the 
round tower of the castle, and he afterwards 
fulfilled his vow by instituting the order of 
the Garter (Murimtjth, p. 154 ; Walsing- 
HAM, i. 263 ; Fcedera, iii. 0). Great prepara- 
tions were made for renewing the war ; for 
messengers came to him from Gascony re- 
presenting the rapid increase of the French 
power there, and he was further moved by 
the news of the fate of the Breton lords who 
were put to death in Paris. Nevertheless 
on 6 Aug. he gave authority to ambassadors 
to treat for peace before Clement, as a pri- 
vate person, not as pope (Fcpdera, iii. 18, 19). 
In April 1345 he appointed Derby to com- 
mand in Gascony ; on 20 May he received at 
Lambeth the homage of John of Montfort, 
and on the 26th wrote to the pope that Philip 
had notoriously broken truce m Brittany, Gas- 
cony, and elsewhere, and that he declared 
war upon him {ib, pp. 36-41). Having sent 
the Earl of Northampton with a force to Brit- 
tany, he embarked at Sandwich with the 



Prince of Wales on 3 July (ib. p. 50), and 
crossed to Sluys; for afi'airs in Flanders 
threatened the loss of the Flemish alliance. 
A scheme was arranged between him and 
Van Artevelde for persuading the people of 
Flanders to accept the prince as their lord. 
Van Artevelde, however, was murdered at 
Ghent, and Edward returned home on the 
26th. In this year the Bardi of Florence, the- 
most powerful bankers in Italy, failed, chiefly 
through Edward's debts to them, for he owed 
them nine hundred thousand gold florins ; 
the Peruzzi, to whom he owed six hundred 
thousand florins, also failed, and the stoppage 
of these two houses ruined many smaller ones, 
so that the king's default brought widespread 
misery on Florence (Gio. Villani, xii. c. 54). 
In the summer of 1346 Edward intended to 
lead an army to help Derby in Guyenne, but 
shortly before he set out he was persuaded 
by Sir Geoffrey Harcourt, who had entered 
his service, to strike at the north of France, 
which was then unprepared to meet attack, 
for the Duke of Normandy and his army were 
engaged in the south (on the mistake of 
Froissart and Avesbury about this see Nico- 
las, Royal Navy, ii. 88). He sailed on 
11 July from the Isle of Wight {Fcederay 
iii. 85; not the 7th as Cont. Murimuth, 
p. 175), with, it is said, one thousand ships, 
tour thousand men-at-arms, ten thousand 
bowmen, and a considerable force of Welsh 
and Irish badly armed foot-soldiers, and 
landed the next day at La Hogue (Avbs- 
BURT,p. 123); the French vessels in the har- 
bour were taken, the larger part of his fleet 
was dismissed, and the rest sent to ravage* 
the coast. The army marched in three 
columns, the king commanding the centre ; 
the wings diverged during the day, so that 
each ravaged a different tract, and united 
with the centre at night. Barfleur was taken 
on the 14th, and Valonges on the 18th, then 
Carentan and St. Lo, where the army was re- 
freshed by finding a thousand tuns of wine, 
and on the 26th Edward came to Caen. He 
took the town easily by assault the next day, 
and sacked it thoroughly. Here he is said to 
have found a paper containing a plan for a 
second Norman conquest of England in 1337 ;• 
this he sent home to be read in all churches 
(t^. p. 130) ; it is not unlikely that it was a 
forgery designed to rouse the popular spirit. 
At Caen he dismissed the remainder of the 
fleet, which had done much harm to the 
French shipping along the Norman coast. In 
spite of a remark attributed by Froissart 
(iii. 145) to Harcourt, that Edward intended 
to march to Calais, his only idea as yet was 
to do as much mischief as he could in: 
northern France, and then retire into Flanders 



Edward III 



58 



Edward III 



before Philip could raise an army to in- 
tercept him. Had he intended to besiege 
Calais, he would not have dismissed his ships. 
He left Caen on the 31st, and on 2 Aug. arrived 
at Lisieux, where ho was met by two cardi- 
nals with offers of peace, which he rejected. 
He then marched towards Rouen, but find- 
ing the bridge broken down, and the French 
in some force there, he turned up the left 
bank of the Seine, ravaging the country as 
be went. Everywhere he found the bridges 
broken, and as by this time a French force 
bad gathered and followed his march on the 
opposite side of the river, he had no time to 
repair them. On the 13th lie arrived at Poissy, 
and by detaching a body of troops to threaten 
Paris, which was only about twelve miles dis- 
tant, he gained time to repair the bridge there, 
and on the IGth crossed the river, lie now 
struck northwards; and marched through the 
Beauvoisin, while Philip, who had now col- 
lected an army much larger than his, pur- 
sued liim closely, intending to crush the 
little English force in a comer between the 
Somme and the sea. He halted at Airaues, 
and sent two marshals with a large body of 
troops to endeavour to find or force a passage 
across the Somme. When they returned un- 
successful he was much troubled ; for both 
he and all his army saw that they were in 
pressing danger. Larly on the 23rd he left 
Airanes in haste, and the French, who arrived 
there shortly afterwards, found the meat that 
the English were about to eat on the spits. 
His object now was to gain Abbeville. On 
arriving before it he reconnoitred the town 
in person from the hills of Caubert, and find- 
ing that he could not take it fell back on 
Oisemont, which he carried easily by assault. 
Here a man ofi'ered to guide his army to a 
ford called Blanquetaque, above the village 
of Port, where he could cross at low water. 
He gave the order to march at midnight, and 
on arriving at the passage found it guarded 
by Godemar du Fay. After a sharp struggle 
the passage was forced (Avesbury ; Frois- 
SART ; by Cont. of Will, of Nangis, ii. 200, 
Godemar is unjustly accused of making only a 
slight resistance), and he and his army crossed 
into Ponthieu. lid ward was now able to choose 
his own ground for fighting ; for Philip, who 
had been just too late to prevent his crossing 
the river, was not able to follow him imme- 
diately, and turned aside to Abbeville. Ed- 
ward took the castle of Noyelles, held a coun- 
cil of war, and the next day, the 25th, marched 
along the road between I lavre and Flanders to 
Cr6cy. On Saturday the 26th Philip advanced 
from Abbeville to give him battle. Edward 
had chosen and strengthened his position 
with great skill. His army occupied some 



high ground on the right bank of the Maye : 
the right wing was covered by the river and 
the village of Cr^cy, where it was defended 
by a series of curtains, the left extended to- 
wards Wadicourt^ and here, where it might 
have been open to a flank attack, it was bar- 
ricaded by pdes of wagons ; the English front 
commandea a slight ravine called the Yall^e- 
aux-Clercs ; the baggage and horses, for all 
fought on foot, were placed in the rear on 
the left in a wood, ana were imparked with 
thickets and felled trees. His position thus 
i resembled an entrenched camp. In case of 
\ defeat he commanded the ancient causeway 
! now called the Chemin de TArm^e, by which 
: he could have crossed the Authie at Ponche 
' (Seymour de Constant ; Louandre ; Ar^ 
' chceologiay voL xxxviii.) Early in the morn- 
ing he and his son received the sacrament. 
Then he drew up his army in three divisions, 
placing the right wing or van under the com- 
mand of the prince ; the third division, which 
he commanded in person, forming a reser^^e. 
He rode through the lines on a palfrey, en- 
! couraging the men, and at 10 a.m. all sat 
down in their ranks to eat and drink. The 
archers were thrown forwards in the form 
of a harrow, and some small cannon were 
posted between them (Froissabt, iii. 416; 
Amiens MS. ; Gio. Villani, xii. c. 65, 66 ; 
Ist'jrie Pistolesif p. 516. This assertion has 
been much questioned, chiefly because it does 
not appear in the earliest text of Froissart, 
and because it is held to be unlikely that 
Edward would have taken cannon with him 
in his hasty march. The presence of the 
Genoese in the French army, however, in- 
vests the two contemporary Italian narra- 
tives with special authority, and it should bo 
remembered that the cannon then used were 
I extremely small. It is certain that Ed- 
ward tooK cannon with him from England ; 
Brackenbury ; Arch(Bolo(/ia, vol. xxxii.) Ed- 
ward watched the battle from a mill. It began 
after the heavy shower which came on at 
3 P.M. had cleared away, and lasted until 
nightfall. It was decided by bad generalship 
and want of discipline on the French side, and 
on the English side by the skill of the bow- 
men and the steady valour of the two front 
divisions [see under Edward, Prince op 
Wales] . Edward appears to have led for- 
ward his division when the French king took 
part in the fight ; the two first lines of the 
French army had by that time been utterly 
i broken, and the remainder was soon routed. 
; He remained on the field the next day, and 
large numbers of the French, some of whom 
were fugitives, while others were advancing 
to join the king's army not knowing that it 
had already b^n routed, were massacred 



Edward III 



59 



Edward III 



almost without resistance; many prisoners 
-were also made on this day. The whole loss 
of the French exceeded, we are told, and was 
probably about equal to, the number of the 
English army (AYESBX7BT,p. 140), and among 
the slain were the king of Bohemia, the 
Duke of Lorraine, the Counts of Alen^on, 
Harcourt, Flanders, Blois, Aumale, and 
Severs, eighty bannerets, and perhaps about 
thirty thousand men of lower rank. Ed- 
ward caused the knights who had fallen 
to be buried honourably, and gave special 
funeral honours to the king of Bohemia. 

On the 28th the king began his march to- 
wards Calais, arrived before the town on 
3 Sept. and determined to lay siege to it (ib. 
p. 136) ; it was a strong place, and the inhabi- 
tants had done much harm to the English and 
Flemings by their piracies (Gio. Villaxi, 
xii. c. 95). He built a regular town before 
the walls (Froissart, iv. 2, 203), sent for a 
fleet to blockade the harbour, and laid siege 
to the town with about thirty thousand men. 
He used cannon in the siege which threw balls 
of three or four ounces weight, and arrows 
fitted with leather and winged with brass 
(BrackenburtY When the governor ex- 
pelled five hundred persons from the town in 
order to husband his provisions, the king fed 
them and gave them money for their journey 
( Jehan le Bel, ii. 96 ; Froissart magnifies 
the number to seventeen hundred, iv. 3, 204). 
Knighton (c. 2593), speaking probably of a 
later event, says that when, at the time that 
the town was suffering from famine, five hun- 
dred persons were expelled, Edward refused 
to allow them to pass his lines, and they all 
perished. Meanwhile the Scots, who at 
Philip's instance had invaded England, were 
routed at Nevill's Cross, Durham, on 17 Oct., 
and there King David was taken prisoner 
and confined in the Tower ; Derby made him- 
self master of nearly all Guvenne, and in the 
summer of 1347 the English cause prospered 
in Brittany, and Charles of Blois was made 
prisoner. In April some stores were brought 
into Calais by sea, and after this Edward 
ordered a stricter blockade; his fleet dis- 
persed a convoy of forty-four ships laden with 
provisions on 25 June (Avesbury, p. 156), 
and the next day a letter was intercepted 
from the governor to the French king in- 
forming him of the stan'in^ condition of the 
garrison, and asking for relief. Edward sent 
the letter on to Philip, bidding him come to 
the relief of the town (Knighton, c. 2593). 
In July Philip led an army towards Calais. 
A portion of it sent to dislodge the Flemings 
who were acting with Edward at Quesnoy was 
defeated. He appeared at Sangatte on the 27th. 
Two cardinals in vain tried to make terms in 



his interests. He was unable to get at the 
English, who were securely posted behind 
the marshes, and challenged Edward to come 
out to battle. Edward declared that he ac« 
cepted the challenge (Avesbury, p. 163) ; it 
is probable that he answered more wisely 
(Jehan lb Bel, ii. 131 ; Froissart, iv. 60, 
278). Anyway, two days later, on 2 Aug., the 
French decamped. The next day the town 
surrendered at discretion. The garrison came 
forth with swords reversed, and a deputation 
of the townsmen with bare heads and ropes 
in their hands. Edward at first intended, or 
made as though he intended, to put the in- 
habitants to the sword as a punishment for 
their piracies, but spared them at the inter- 
cession of his queen (Jehan le Bel, ii. 135 ; 
I'roissart, iv. 57, 287 ; see also Luce's note in 
his Summart/f p. xxv ; there is no adequate 
reason for doubting any material part oi this 
famous story, comp. Knighton, c. 2595 ; 
Stow, p. 244 ; Gio. Villani, xii. c. 95 ; nor 
is the incident of the self-devotion of Eustace 
de St.-Pierre improbable). During the summer 
his army sufiered much sickness, arising from 
lack of good water. With some few exceptions 
he banished the people of Calais ; and sent over 
to England ofi*ering grants and privileges to 
those who would colonise the town (^Fcedera^ 
iii. 130). After agreeing to a truce for nine 
months, mediated by Clement and signed 
2^ Sept. {ib. p. 136), he returned home with 
his wife and son, and after a stormy passage 
landed at Sandwich on 12 Oct. {ib, p. 139; 
Cont. MuRiMUTH, p. 178\ 

All England was filled with the spoils of 
Edward*s expedition, so that there was not 
a woman who did not wear some ornament, 
or have in her house fine linen or some goblet, 
part of the booty the king sent home from 
Caen or brought back from Calais (Walsing- 
HAM, i. 272). Flushed with triumph Edward 
and his courtiers gave themselves up to ex- 
travagance and pleasure. During the three 
months after his return splendid tournaments 
were held at Bury, at Eltham, where * garters' 
were worn by twelve of the knights, and at 
Windsor (Nicolas, Orders of Kniyhthood, i. 
11 sq.) Much license prevailed at some of 
the meetings of this sort, which were at- 
tended by many ladies of loose life and bold 
manners, greatly to the scandal of the nation 
(Knighton, c. 2597). The king freely in- 
dulged his love for fine dress and the trap- 
pings of chivalry. On St. George's day, 
23 April 1 349, he carried out the ])lan for 
an order of knighthood formed in 1344 by the 
institution of the order of the Garter ; the 
ceremonies and festivities were magnificent. 
Edward himself bore a * white swan, gorged 
or,* with the vaunting motto, * Hay, hay, the 



Edward III 



60 



Edward III 



wythe swan : By God's soul I am thy man/ 
Another of his mottoes was, 'It is as it is.' 
The origin of the ' Garter ' and of the motto 
of the order is unknown. The story that 
connects them with the Countess of Salis- 
bury is worthless, and is first found in * Poly- 
dore Vergil/ p. 486 (ed. 1651). In connec- 
tion with the foundation of the order, Ed- 
ward rebuilt the chapel of Windsor and 
dedicated it to St. George, and refounded the 
college (AsHMOLE, p. 178). Early in 1348 
messengers came to Edward from the heads 
of the Savarian party in the empire inviting 
him to accept the imperial dignity ; for Lewis 
of Bavaria was now dead, and their enemy 
Clement VI was advocating the election of 
Charles of Moravia. Edward, however, de- 
clined the honour, declaring that he preferred 
to prosecute his own right (Knighton, c. 
2696 ; Gio. Villa.ni, xii. c. 105 ; Raynaldus, 
xxiv. 468). In spite of the spoils of France 
the expenses of the war bore heavily on the 
country. During the king's absence money 
had been raised by various illegal methods, 
and the refusal of the commons in the par- 
liament of January 1348 to give advice on 
the war shows that they feared further ex- 
pense and would not take a share in the re- 
sponsibility. After some strong complaints 
a grant for three years was made on certain 
conditions, one of which was that the king 
should restore a loan of twenty thousand 
sacks of wool that the council had obtained 
from the merchants without consent of par- 
liament {Co?ist. llisf. ii. 397 sq.) In August 
the plague reached this country, broke out 
in London in November, and raged with 
fearful violence in the summer of 1349 ; no 
parliament was held that year, and all the 
courts were closed for two years. A murrain 
broke out among cattle ; the harvest rotted 
on the land for lack of reapers, and a time 
of scarcity followed. This first plague re- 
mained more or less till 1357. About half 
the jwpulation was swept off, three arch- 
bishops of Canterbury died within a twelve- 
month, and one of the king's daughters, Joan, 
died of it in August 1348 at Bordeaux while 
on her way to meet her betrothed husband, 
Don Pedro of Castile. The diminution of the 
population caused wages to be doubled, and 
m June 1350 the king published an ordinance 
requiring labourers to work for the same 
wages as before the plague and providing 
penalties for demanding or granting more. 
On 9 Feb. 1351 the statute of labourers was 
enacted in parliament, and other attempts 
were made later in the reign to keep down 
wages and prevent labourers from migrating 
to different parts of the country to seek 
higher pay, but without much effect. (For 



information on the plague see Rooebs, Hu-- 
ton/ of Prices, i. 60, 265, 667, and article in 
Fortnightly BevieWj vol. iii. ; art. * Plague,' 
Encyclopedia Brit, 9th ed. ; Knighton, c 
2699 sq.) 

Towards the end of 1349 Edward was in- 
formed by the governor of jDalais that the 
French hoped to gain possession of the town 
by paying him a sum of money on 1 Jan. 
He put sir "Walter Manny at the head of 
three hundred knights, among whom he 
served as a simple knight, crossed over to 
Calais, surprised the party which came to 
receive the surrender, and distin^ished him- 
self by his valour, engaging in smgle combat 
with Sir Eustace de Ribaumont, whom he 
made prisoner. After the fight he sat down 
to a feast with his prisoners, crowned Sir 
Eustace with a chaplet of pearls and gave 
him his liberty (Jehan lb Bel, p. 1351; 
Froissart, iv. 81, 313). During the summer 
of 1350 a fleet was fitted out, for Edward de- 
sired to take vengeance on the fleet of Charles 
of La Cerda, grandson of Alfonso X of Cas- 
tile, which Imd been largely employed by 
the French against him. On 10 Aug. he de- 
clared that this fleet, which was Iving at 
Sluys, threatened to invade England (^^ocdcra, 
iii. 201), though it seems at the time to have 
been engaged in commerce. He embarked 
at Winchelsea in the cog Thomas on the28thy 
to intercept the Spaniards, whose fleet was 
much stronger than his own. The next day, 
which was Sunday, he sat on deck in a black 
velvet jacket and beaver hat listening to 
music and singing, but looking earnestly for 
the si^al of the enemy's approach (Trois- 
8A.RT, IV. 91). The Spanish fleet of forty 
large galleys laden with merchandise hove 
in sight about 4 P.M. A severe fight took 

JJace, and the king behaved with much gal- 
antry, changing his ship for one of the 
Spaniards which he had taken just before his 
own sank. He gained a complete victory, the 
number of ships taken being variously esti- 
mated from fourteen to twenty-sLx, In the 
evening he hmded and spent the night in 
revelry with the queen and her ladies and 
his knights ; for this battle, which is called 
L*Espagnols-sur-mer, took place but a few 
miles off Winchelsea, where the court was^ 
and within sight of land (Nicolas, Boyal 
Nain/f ii. 103-13, where references are j^ven). 
On 1 Aug. 1351 a truce was made with the 
maritime ports of Castile and Biscay {Fccdera, 
iii. 228). In the February parliament of 
this year was passed the statute of Provisors^ 
by which all who procured reservation or 
provisions were rendered liable to fine and 
imprisonment ; for the king's letter and or- 
dinance of 1344 had proved ineffectual, and 



Edward III 



6i 



Edward III 



bishoprics and other benefices were still 
ffranted by the pope, and in many cases to 
foreigners, so that the wealth of the kingdom 
went to enrich the king^s enemies, and the 
interests of the church suffered. This was 
followed in 1353 by an ordinance directed 
a^^ainst pai^ usurpation in matters of juris- 
diction, which provided that all who sued in 
foreign courts should sufier outlawry, for- 
feiture, and imprisonment. This ordinance, 
which was enrolled as a statute, was called 
the statute of Praemunire. In 1365 the sta- 
tute of Provisors was re-enacted, and the 
statute of Pnemunire was expressly declared 
to apply to suitors at the papal court. The 
crime of treason was denned for the first 
time by the statute of Treasons in 1352, and 
in 1353 the staple towns for the monopoly 
and export of wool were finally fixed by an 
ordinance that was adopted by parliament 
the next year (Const, Hist, ii. 410, lii. 327 sq.) 
Although the truce with France was re- 
newed from time to time, it was constantly 
broken. In 1351 Guisnes was sold to Edward 
hy the garrison, some fighting went on in 
Guyenne, and more in Brittany. On both 
sides John, who had succeeded his father 
Philip in 1350, lost ground. Pope Inno- 
cent Vl endeavoured to bring about a final 
peace, and an effort to that end seems to have 
Deen made by Edward, who sent the Duke of 
Lancaster (before Earl of Derby) to treat at 
Guisnes in July 1353, offering to give up his 
claim to the crown on condition of receiving 
Guyenne, Normandy, and Ponthieu, his con- 
quests in Brittany and elsewhere, and the 
overlordship of Flanders, all in full sove- 
reigpty (Bot, Pari, ii. 252; Fadera, iii. 261). 
These demands, however, were too high. Still 
he was probably willing to make peace, for he 
made renewed offers in March 1354, and a 
truce was signed a few days later (ti6. pp. 275, 
277). Moreover in the parliament of 10 April 
the kin? sent a message by his chamberlain 
to the lords and commons informing them 
that there was good hope of peace, and ask- 
ing the commons if they would assent to a 
full peace if one could be made, and they 
answered unanimously, * Yes, yes ' {Rot. Pari, 
ii. 262). Accordingly, on 23 Aug. he autho- 
rised Lancaster and others to treat at Avig- 
non before Innocent (FcRdera^ iii. 283, 289). 
The negotiations were ineffectuaL At Avig- 
non Lancaster met Charles of Navarre, who 
had a quarrel with his father-in-law. King 
John, and who now proposed an alliance with 
Edward. His friendship was of importance, 
for he had many strong towns in Normandy. 
He promised to co-operate with Edward in 
-an invasion of France by Normandy, and 
<m 1 Jane 1865 the king desired prayers for 



the success of his expedition. On 10 July Ed- 
ward took command of his fleet at the Downs, 
intending to land at Cherbourg (Knighton, 
c. 2608). He was delayed by contrary winds, 
put in at Sandwich and Wmchelsea, was at 
Westminster on30 Aug.,and then went down 
to Portsmouth, apparently hoping to cross. 
While he was there he heard that Charles 
and the king of France were reconciled, and 
that John was threatening Calais (Fwdera, 
iii. 311, 312 ; Avesbukt, p. 202). He there- 
fore crossed over to Calais. Meanwhile the 
Prince of Wales had sailed with a large force 
for Guyenne. At Calais Edward was joined 
by a mercenary force ofBrabanters and others, 
and on 2 Nov. marched to meet the French 
king, who refused to give battle and retreated. 
After pillaging the country for four days he 
returned to Calais, and there heard that the 
Scots had taken Berwick {ib, p. 210). He 
hastened home, and after receiving a large 
grant firom parliament left London about 
80 Nov., was at Durham on 23 Dec., when 
he issued orders that the forces of nine shires 
should meet him at Newcastle on 1 Jan. 
(Foedera, iii. 314), and, having spent Christ- 
mas at Newcastle, marched to Berwick, 
which was surrendered to him on the 13th 
after slight resistance. He then proceeded 
to Boxburgh, where on the 20th Baliol sur- 
rendered the kingdom and kingly dignity to 
him (ib, pp. 317-19). On the 27th he left Rox- 
burgn, at the head of thirty-three thousand 
men (Avesbtjby, p. 236), and marched into 
Lothian. The Scots would not meet him in 
battle, had driven away their cattle, and as far 
as possible had stripped the land. Edward 
harried the country and fired all that could be 
burned, so that his expedition was known as 
the Burnt Candlemas. His army was soon in 
want of supplies ; he marched to Edinburgh 
hoping to meet his ships with supplies, for he 
had given orders at Berwick that they should 
sail into the Firth. They had, however, been 
dispersed by a tempest, and he was forced to 
lead his army southwards, the Scots cutting 
off the stragglers, and once, it is said, nearly 
taking the king himself (Knighton, c. 2610: 
FORDUN, p. 1048). 

On 10 Oct. Edward addressed a letter to the 
bishops commanding a thanksgiving for his 
son's victory at Poitiers and the capture of 
the French king on 19 Sept. ; the gravity and 
religious feeling he displayed on receiving the 
news of this wonderful success were widely 
spoken of with praise (M. Villani, vii. c. 21). 
On 23 March 1367 a truce for two years was 
concluded with France, and on 24 MayEdward 
received the Prince of Wales and the captive 
king with much splendour at Westminster. 
In June three caroinals came to England to 



Edward III 



62 



Edward III 



negotiate a peace ; they offered Edward the 
lands that his ancestors held in France, to 
which Edward replied shortly that though 
these lands had been lost he had regained 
them, and that they had better speak of 
his claim to the throne (Fwdera, iii. 357 ; 
Knighton, c. 2616). Innocent now re- 
quested that Edward would pay him the 
tribute ofa thousand marks that his ancestor 
John had promised ; the king, however, de- 
clared that he would pay tribute to no one, 
for that he did not hold his kingdom in de- 
pendence on any one (ib, c. 2617); some pay- 
ments had been made on this account in the 
earlier part of the reign (Fc^dera^ ii. 864). 
On 3 Oct. a long series of negotiations, kept 
up more or less during ten years, for the re- 
lease of the king of Scots was brought to an 
end. Peace was made between the two king- 
doms, and David was released at a ransom 
of 100,000/., to be paid in yearly instalments, 
for which hostages were given {ib. iii. 372 sq.) 
David's long residence in England had made 
him English in heart ; he was completely 
under Edward's influence, and constantly 
visited his court. The presence of King John, 
who was honourably lodged in the Savoy, 
led Edward into fresh extravagance. On 
23 April, St. George's day, 1358, he held a 
magnificent tournament at Windsor, and he 
kept Christmas in much state at London, 
where he entertained the kings of France 
and Scotland. In March 1359 a treaty was 
made between the kings of England and 
France by which John surrendered to Ed- 
ward the whole of the south-east of France 
from Poitou to Gascony, with Calais, Guisnes, 
and Ponthieu in full sovereignty, and was to 
ransom himself and his lords for four million 
crowns, while Edward gave up his claims to 
the crown and the provinces north of the 
Loire, formerly held by his ancestors. This 
treaty was repudiated by the regent of France, 
with the consent of the States-General, and 
Edward prepared for war. The Flemings, 
who were now on good terms with their 
count, had deserted the English alliance and 
now drove the English merchants into Bra- 
bant. On the other hand Sir Ilobert Knolles 
and other leaders of the free companies that 
desolated France put themselves under Ed- 
ward's command, and so many foreign lords 
and knights flocked to Calais to serve under 
him, that he was forced to send Lancaster 
to satisfy them by leading them on a plunder- 
ing expedition. Having raised an immense 
force, and furnished it with everything that 
could be needed during a long campaign, he 
Bailed from Sandwich on 28 Oct. and arrived 
at Calais the same day {Fwdera^ iii. 452). The 
adventurersy who had gained little booty by 



their raid, were clamorous for pay, but he 
told them that he had nothing for them, and 
that they might please themselves as to 
serving under him, though he would give 
those who did so a good share of the spoil 
( Jehan le Bel, ii. 251 ). He marched through 
Artois and Cambresis to Kheims, where he 
intended to be crowned king of France (Ci)7if. 
Will, of Nangis, ii. 297), and laid siege to 
the city on 30 Nov. The regent did not attack 
him, but the city was strong^ and as his men 
suffered from the weather and bad quarters^ 
he broke up the siege on 11 Jan. 1360, led 
his army into Burgundy, and took Tonnerre, 
where his soldiers were refreshed with three 
thousand butts of wine. After remaining 
there some days he removed to Guillen on 
the borders of the duchy, encamped there on 
19 Feb., and remained till mid-Lent. On 
10 March Duke Philip bought him oflf by a 
payment of two hundred thousand gold 
* moutons ' {Fcedera, iiL 473), and he then 
marched to Paris and encamped between 
Montlh^ry and Chatres, lodging at the castle 
of St. Germain-lez-Arpajon. He did not 
succeed in provoking tne regent to battle, 
and on 6 April marched towards the Loire, 
intending to refresh his men in Brittany and 
commence operations again later in the year. 
Meanwhile, on 15 March, a Norman fleet 
appeared at Winchelsea, carrying a large 
force of soldiers, who plundered the town 
and were at last driven to their ships. The 
regent now pressed for peace, and on 8 May 
Edward concluded a treaty at Bretigny, 
near Chartres. By this treaty the whole of 
the ancient province of Aquitaine, together 
with Calais, Guisnes, and Ponthieu, was ceded 
to him, and he renounced his claim to the 
crown, to the provinces north of the Loire, 
and to the overlordship of Flanders ; the 
right to Brittany was left undecided, and 
provision was made that any future struggle 
for the duchy between the two competitors 
should not involve a breach of the treaty, 
and John's ransom was fixed at three million 
gold crowns, of the value of two to the Eng- 
lish noble, six thousand to be paid in four 
months, and hostages to be delivered, and 
the king to be then set free. Edward re- 
turned thanks in the cathedral of Cliartres, 
and then embarked at Honfleur (not Harfleur 
as Froissart has it, for it was then in French 
hands), and landed at Rye on the 18th. On 
9 Oct. he crossed to Calais, and on the 24th 
finally ratified the treaty of Bretigny, in the 
church of St. Nicolas, received payment 
and hostages, and liberated John, to whom 
he accorded the title of king of France, while 
he forebore to use it himself {ib. pp. 516 sq.) 
He returned to England at the beginning of 



Edward III 



6j 



Edward III 



November and kept Christmas at Woodstock 
(Walmkgham, i. 294). 

On 16 March 1361 Edward issued a writ 
to the chancellor of Ireland speaking of the 
increasing weakness of his faithful subjects 
in that country, and declaring his intention 
of tending over his son Lionel, earl of Ulster 
in right of his wife, with a large army {Fee- 
dera, iii. 610). Ever since the murder of Wil- 
liam de Burgh [q. v.], earl of Ulster, in 1332, 
the English settlement in Ireland had grown 
continually weaker. The De Burghs refused 
to acknowledge the earl's daughter, Eliza- 
beth, who was brought up as the king's ward 
and was now Lionel's wife ; they assumed 
Irish names and became *' more Irish than 
the Irish themselves,' and their example was 
followed by many other houses of Anglo- 
Norman descent. Further causes of weak- 
ness were the heavy drain of soldiers for the 
king's ware, the constant quarrels between 
the colonists, and the corrupt state of the 
administration. Holders of public offices in 
Ireland were simply engagea in a race for 
wealth, and as Edward's wars rendered him 



by a second visitation of the plague, which 
lasted from August till the following May. 
As peace was now made with France, the 
king on 16 Feb. restored the possessions of the 
alien priories. In spite of the peace France 
was oesolated by the free companies com- 
manded by Sir ilugh Calveley [q. v.] and 
other Englishmen, and largely composed of 
the king's subjects, and at John's request 
Edward ordered his officers to check their 
disorders (Ftrderaj iii. 630, 085). Early in 
1362 knights from Spain, Cyprus, and Ar- 
menia visited the king, requesting his help 
against Mahometan invaders, and in May he 
entertained them with jousts at Smithfield. 
Ho now seems to have neglected his kingly 
duties, and his licentiousness and indolence 
were made the subjects of popular satire (Po- 
litical Songs, i. 182 sq.) On 1 9 July he created 
Gascony and Aquitaine into a principality, 
which he conferred on the Prince of Wales 
(ib, p. 607), to be held by liege homage, and 
in his charter of ffrant declared that he might 
hereafter erect these dominions into a king- 
dom, and reserved the right of such erection ^ 



unable to pay them regularly, they obtained : a power which was universally held to belong 

money as they could. Although the king's only to the emperor or the pope. This year 

visit, proposed in 1331, never took place, he the king began to keep the jubilee year of 

made several attempts to check the decay of his age ; he pardoned many prisoners and 

the colony. In 1338 he ordered that all outlaws, and created his sons, Lionel and 

justices should be Englishmen by birth (ib, John, Dukes ofGlarence and Lancaster, a title 

li. 1019), and in 1341 that all officers settled which he had introduced into England, and 



in Ireland should be removed unless they 
held estates in England {ib, p. 1171). In 
1341, however, in order to raise money and to 
crush the power of the rebellious party, the 
English by blood, he declared a resumption 
of crown grants. The opposition of Desmond 
compelled the abandonment of the measure, 
and the attempt embittered the relations 
between the two parties (Bagwell, Ireland 
vnder the Tudors, i. 7(>-9). Edward en- 
deavoured to provide for the defence of the 
colony by checking absenteeism (Fadera, iii. 
153, 253), and in 1357 issued an ordinance 
for the better government of the country, 
which confirmed the institution of annual 
parliaments introduced in the last reign. 
In 1361 he decreed that no * mere Irish ' should 
hold any secular office or ecclesiastical bene- 
fice within the country subject to the crown ; 
and a wider attempt to separate the two races 
and put a stop to the adoption of Irish cus- 
toms by the English colonists was made by 
the statute of Kilkenny in 1367 [see under 
LioKBL, DuKB OF Clabencb]. The English 
districts were now formally distinguished 
from the Irish. Edward's legislation, how- 
ever, failed to strengthen the power of the 
crown in Ireland, and the English colony de- 
cayed during his reign. This year was marked 



which had as yet been conferred only on the 
Prince of Wales and Henry of Lancaster, 
lately deceased. These creations point to the 
influence of French usage ; the king evidently 
intended that this new title should be re- 
served for members of his family, to whom 
he wished to give a position somewhat similar 
to that of the * princes of the lilies.' As the 
great fiefs of France, such as Normandy and 
Anjou, had been made apanages for the king's 
sons, so Edward was carrying out a scheme 
of policy which invested the members of the 
royal house with some of the richest fiefs of 
the English crown. The Prince of Wales, 
who was also Earl of Chester and Duke of 
Cornwall, married the heiress of the Earl of 
Kent. The wife of Lionel brought him, in 
addition to the earldom of Ulster, a portion 
of the inheritance of the Earls of Gloucester 
ond Hereford ; and John, who had received 
the earldom of Richmond from his father^ 
held four other earldoms in right of his wife^ 
the daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster, 
By thus concentrating the great fiefs in his 
own family Edward hoped to strengthen the 
crown agamst the nobles (on this subject see 
Const, Hist, ii. 416). In the parliament of 
October the king was granted a subsidy for 
three years. The custom of making grants 



Edward III 



64 



Edward III 



for two or three years enabled the king to 
hold parliaments less frequently — none, for 
example, met in 1364 — and encouraged legis- 
lation by ordinances of the king and council 
instead of by statute {ib. p. 409). This parlia- 
ment obtained a statute providing that, for- 
iosmuch as * the French tongue is much un- 
Imown,* all pleadings should for the future 
be in English in all courts of law ; and it was 
further enacted that the records should be 
Jiept in Latin instead of French. This statute 
was evidently considered an act of grace 
worthy of the jubilee (1*. p. 414; Hot Pari, 
ii. 276,283; Cont MTJBiMUTH,p.l98). Next 
vear the chancellor opened parliament with an 
!t]nglish speech. Two important concessions 
were also obtained in 1362 : the one provided 
that no tax should be laid on wool without 
the consent ofparliament, the other related to 
purveyance. Simon Islip, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, had lately remonstrated indignantly 
with the king on the hardships inflicted on 
his subjects by the conduct of his purveyors 
(Speculum Begis^ MS. Bodl. 624, (quoted in 
Comt Hist. ii. 375, 404, 414), and Edward 
now granted a statute limiting purveyance to 
the use of the king or queen, oraering that all 
payments on that account should be made in 
money, and changing the name * purveyor * to 
that of ' buyer.' In the autumn of 1363 the 
king, in commemoration of his jubilee, held 
great huntings in Rockingham, Sherbum, and 
other forests, on which he expended 100/. and a 
hundred marks on alternate days (^Knighton, 
-c. 2627). In the course of the winter he en- 
tertained four kings. Peter of Cyprus came to 
persuade him to go on a crusade, but Edward 
declared that he was too old. Waldemar IV 
of Denmark also consulted him on the same 
matter, and the kings of France and Scotland 
had business connected with their ransoms. 
One of John's hostages, his son the Duke of 
Anjou, broke his parole and refused to return 
to Calais, and the French king, partly from 
a feeling of honour and partly because he 
longed for the pleasures of Edward's court 
{Cont, Will, of Nanois, ii. 333), returned 
to England, and died at the Savoy Palace on 
8 April 1364. 

From the date of David's release in 1357 
Edward took every means to gain a party in 
Scotland ; he welcomed Scottish nobles who 
came to share in the chivalrous amusements 
of his court, or, as some did, took service under 
his banner, encouraged trade between the 
two countries, and allowed the inhabitants 
of the districts which remained in his hands 
to enjoy their own customs. Meanwhile the 
unnual sum due for the king's ransom pressed 
heavily on the people and fell into arrear. 
lEdward hoped that the Scots would be will- 



ing to accept him or one of his sons as David's 
successor, and so be relieved of this obliga- 
tion. David, who was childless and com- 
pletely under Edward's influence, on 27 Nov. 
1363, during his visit to Westminster, made 
a secret treaty with the English king, by 
which it was agreed that if ne could per- 
suade his subjects to accept Edward and 
his heirs as his successors on the throne of 
Scotland, the districts then held by Edward 
should be restored and an acquittance given 
for the remainder of the ransom ; the king- 
dom of Scotland was not to be merged in that 
of England, the English king was to receive 
the Scottish crown at Scone, seated on the 
royal stone, which was to be sent back from 
England, and all parliaments relating to 
Scottish affairs were to be held in Scotland 
(JFoedera, iii. 715). This project for a union 
of the kingdoms was defeated by the deter- 
mination of the Scots never to allow an Eng- 
lishman to reign over them (Tytler, His^ 
tory of Scotland^ i. 205-16). In the be- 
ginning of October Edward heard of the 
victory of Auray, where Chandos and Cal- 
veley destroyed the army of Charles of Blois, 
w^ho was slain in the battle, and won Brit- 
tany for De Montfort. He was at this time 
treating for a marriage between his son Ed- 
mund, earl of Cambridge, and Margaret, 
heiress of Lewis, count of Flanders, and 
widow of Philip de Rouvre, duke of Bur- 
gundy. A dispensation was necessary, and 
Charles V, the new king of France, persuaded 
Urban V to refuse it, and afterwards obtained 
the lady and her rich and wide territories for 
his brother Philip (F(rdera, iii. 750, 758; 
Cont MuRiMLTH, p. 200 ; Barante, Du^s <fe 
Bourgogne, i. 39 sq.) In May 1366 Simon 
Langham, bishop of Ely, the chancellor, an- 
nounced to the parliament that the king de- 
sired the advice of the estates, for he had 
been informed by the pope that he purposed 
to commence a suit against him for the tribute 
of a thousand marks which had been promised 
by John in acknowledgment of homage for 
the kingdom of England and land of Ireland, 
and which was then thirty-three years in 
arrear. The three estates answered with 
one accord that John had no power to make 
any such promise, and the temporal lords 
and the commons declared that should the 
pope attempt to enforce his claim they would 
resist him. Edward was so indignant at 
the pope's conduct that for a short time he 
even forbade the payment of Peter's pence. 
This was the last that was heard of the tri- 
bute to Rome {Rot Pari. ii. 289, 290 ; Stow, 
p. 277). It is said that about this time Ed- 
ward, who had made some rather feeble at- 
tempts to induce the English free companies 



Edward III 



65 



Edward III 



to abstain from ravaging France, received a. 
strong remonstrance from Cliarlea V on tliB 
subject, tluLl he then renewed his commands 
to the gruat compUQf, and tliat its leaders 
refused to obey him. Indignant al thia, he 
made, it ia said, preparations for crossing over 
to France in order to make war upon them; 
but Charles, when he heard of his Intention, 
requested liim to abandon it, on which the 
king swore by St. Mary, hie usual oath, that 
he -would never go to the help of the king of 
France, even though the company should 
turn him out of his kingdom(WALfii:4GHAM, 
i. 302). The company, however, now found 
employment in Castile. Ileiiry of Trosla- 
tnare, the bastard brother of Pedro the C'ruel, 
king of Castile, conspired against his brotlier, 
witu the connivance of Charles V. The pope 
and the king of Aragou engaged the help of 
I>il Guesclin, who was joined by Calveley 
and other English captains, and tiinietl Pedro 
out of hia kingdom. Pedro, with whom Ed- 
ward bod made alliance in 13G2 and 13G4 
(Ftrdera, iii. 650, 680), fled to the Prince of 
Wales at Bordeaux, and requested his help. 
The prince applied to hia fattier, and Edward 
consented to his undertaking the cause of 
Pedro, and furnished Lancaster, who went 
out to join his brother, with troops and ships 
for bis passage (16. pp. 799, 810). On 6 July 
1367 the king received the charger ridden by 
Henry of Tm^tamareat N^ara, where be wus 
defeated by the prince and I'edro on 3 Aprd 
(■£, p. B25). This war was not an infraction 
of tlie peace between England and France. 
In November the king, to whom Charles of 
France had again complained of the injuries 
inflicted on hia kingdom by the free com- 
panies, wrote to the prince and others urgently 
requiring them to repress these disorders(ii. 
p. 831). This, however, was beyond Ibeir 
power, and early the next year a large number 
of soldiers who had served in Spain led Aqui- 
taine under their captains and entered Frsnce. 
Charles, who was determined to win back tbe 
territories conquered by the English, and was 
only biding liis time, now had a fair cause of 
complaint, especially as these soldiers de- 
clared that they were acting In obedience to 
the prince's auggestion (^Fboissart, vii. 06). 
He encouraged the discontent of the com- 
munes of Qujenne and of Albret and Ar- 
nutgnoc and other lords who had never sub- 
mitted willingly to the English rule, and 
stTengthenedbispartyinthesoutb. Edward 
was warned by tbe prince that mischief was 
brewing, but refused to believe it, for some of 
his advisers told him that the prince was rash 
and restless, that tbe king of France meant 
no barm, and that be need take no account 
of his son's letters (Waminohaji, i. 306). 

TOL. ITll. 



He was deceived by the semblance of amity 
that Charles kept up. Tbe instalments of the 
late icing's ransom were slill paid (18 Nov. 
1367, fitdera, iii. 836), and in May 1368 tbe 
Duke of Clarence, when on hia way to Milan, 
where he married Violnnte Visconti, was 
nobly entertained at Paris. In July Charles 
entered into an open alliance with Heniy of 
Trastamnre, who promised to deliver him any 
conquests he might make at Edward's ex- 
pense (lA. p. SfiO), and in the summer and 
autumn received as suierain appeals against 
the prince from Albret and Armagnac in 
spite of the treaty of Bretigny. In January 
1369 he summoned tbe prince to appear b^ 
fore him and answer the complaints of his 
Bubjects; yet he still kept up friendly rela- 
tions with Edward, sent ambassadors to his 
court to treat of their differences, and gave 
him a present of fifty pipes of wine. Never- 
tbelesa it was now evident that war was 
likely to break out, and Edward ordered a 
levy of archers and mariners to be made in 
the western counties to meet ' our enemies 
of France, now on the sea,' and on '20 March 
seutluiteradirecting that preparations should 
be mode to resist invasion (ili. pp. 858,863). 
In April Edward returned the French kings 
wine, and the amhassadora left tbe court. 
They were met al Dover on tbe 29th by 
Charles's messenger with a declaration of 
war. This was, it is said, sent by one of the 
French king's scullions. Edward was in- 
dignant at the insult, and returned no answer 
(tRnissABT, Tii. 109). The story is open to 
suspicion, for the insult was senseless, shock- 
ing to the feelings of the age, and unlike the 
general conduct of the 'wise' king. Anyway, 
on tbe very day that war was declared the 
French invaded Pontbieu, and conquered it 
in a week. Although Edward bod made 
some preparations for war, he was by no 
means ready, and was surprised by the sud- 
denness of the French attack. He received 
a subsidy for three years from the parliament 
that met on 4 May; by the advice of the 
estates he again assumed the title and arms 
of king of France, and sent ruinforcementa 
to act on the frontiers of Aquitaine under the 
Earls of Cambridge and Pembroke. A kind 
of treaty of neutrality had been made with 
Arogon shortly before the war began (16. p, 
855); the truce with Scotland, which was 
nearly expired, was renewed for fourteen 
years(i6. p. 877); and though the marriage of 
Margaret of Burgundy rendered it useless 
to hope for active help from the Count of 
Flanders, ambassadors were sent to him, who 
succeeded the next year in concluding; a treaty 
for conunerce providing that I'lemish ships 
should not carry the gooda of the ei ' 



Edward III 



66 



Edward III 



England (ib. p. 898). Agreements were also 
made with tne margrave of JuUers and the 
Duke of Gueldres for the supply of mer- 
cenaries. 

On the English side the war was carried 
on without any of the vigour of earlier days, 
for the king was sinking into premature 
old age and the prince was mortally sick. 
Edward's hold on iiis French dominions was 
slight, and his subjects were ready to return 
to their old allegiance as soon as ever they 
should find that it was safe to do so. Ac- 
cordingly Charles declined to risk a battle, 
and allowed the English to wear themselves 
out wit h fruitless operations. While Chandos 
and Pembroke carried on a desultory warfare 
in Poitou and Touraine, Charles gathered a 
considerable army and many ships at Har- 
fleur, and in August an invasion of England 
seemed near at hand (ib. p. 878). Edward sent 
Lancaster with a body of troops to Calais, 
and if any idea of an invasion on a large 
scale had existed it was given up. Never- 
theless an attack was made on Portsmouth, 
and the town was burnt (ib, p. 880), an inci- 
dent which proves how entirely the king had 
neglected the naval and coast defences of the 
country during some years past, for this at- 
tack was not unexpected. The French army 
was commanded by the Duke of Burgundy, 
who, in obedience to the king's orders, re- 
fused to give battle to the English. Lan- 
caster, with some foreign troops under Robert 
of Namur, did some plundering, and in No- 
vember returned home. During the summer 
of this year England suffered from a third 
visitation of the plague. On 15 Aug. Ed- 
ward sustained a serious loss in the death of 
his queen. Even during her lifetime he had 
formed a connection with one of her atten- 
dants named Alice Perrers {Chron, Anglice, 
p. 95), and after her death this woman exer- 
cised an overweening and disastrous power 
over him. From this event, too, may perhaps 
be dated the rapid growth of Lancaster's in- 
fluence over his father, and of the rivalry be- 
tween him and the Prince of Wales, though 
some signs of that may probably be discerned 
in the evil counsel which led Edward to ne- 
glect the prince's warnings as to the inten- 
tions of the king of France. During 1370 
the war in France went on with varying suc- 
cess. The English lost ground in Aquitaine ; 
Sir Robert KnoUes plundered up to the gates 
of Paris, was defeated, and retired to Brittany ; 
and Limoges was betrayed to the French, 
and was retaken by the prince. Edward en- 
deavoured to conciliate nis French subjects, 
and took measures that weakened the au- 
thority of the prince, and were evidently sug- 
gested by Lancaster. On 80 Dec. ldG9 he 



set up a court of appeal at Saintes (FoederOf 
iii. 884) ; on 28 Jan. 1370 he abated certain 
duties on wine ; on 1 July he sent out Lan- 
caster to help his brother, granting him ex- 
ti^aordinary powers ; and on 5 or 16 Nov. he 
declared the abolition of aU, fouoffeSy the tax 
by which the prince had roused the Gascons 
to revolt, and other aids (Froissabt, vii. 
210, 211). In January he received a grant 
of a tenth for three years from the clergy. In 
accordance with the bad advice of some of 
his counsellors he borrowed largely from his 
subjects for the expenses of the war {Cont, 
MuBiMTJTH, p. 207), and in consequence of the 
grant of the year before did not summon a 
parliament. He had received a visit from 
the king of Navarre, and made a treaty 
with him, but this treaty was annulled on 
27 Jan. in consequence of the prince's re- 
fusal to assent to it (ib, p. 210; JFhderaf iii. 
907). 

In January 1371 Edward received the 
Prince of Wales at Windsor on his return 
home in broken health, and then went up to 
Westminster and was present at the parlia- 
ment of 24 Feb. The cnancellor, Wilbam of 
Wy keham, bishop of Winchester, declared the 
king's need of supplies to enable him to pre- 
vent invasion. A petition from the monastic 
landowners was made the opportunity for an 
attack on the wealth of the church, which 
was, a certain lord said, like an owl dressed 
in the plumage of other birds, until a moment 
of peril came and each bird reclaimed its own 
feathers (Fasciculi Zizaniorum^ Pref. p. xxi). 
The attack was led by the Earl of Pembroke, 
who was betrothed to the king's daughter 
Margaret, and it probably, therefore, met 
with the king's approval. A petition, in 
which both lords and commons joined, was 
presented to the king declaring tliat the go- 
vernment of the kingdom had been for a long 
time in the hands of churchmen who could 
not be called to account, and praying that 
the king would choose lay ministers. Wy ke- 
ham and the treasurer Brantingham, bishop 
of Exeter, resigned their offices, and the king 
appointed two laymen to succeed them. The 
ignorance of the new ministers was at once 
displayed in the proposal to raise 50,000/. by 
a contribution of 22j?. 3<?. from every one of 
the parishes in England, the larger to help 
the smaller, for it was found that there were 
not nine thousand parishes ; and in June the 
king called a great council at Winchester, 
consisting of some lords and one representa- 
tive from each constituency, and with their 
consent the proportion to be levied on each 
parish was raised proportionately. A grant 
of 50,000/. was also made by the clergy ( Const, 
Sist. ii. 420 sq. ; Hot Pari, ii. 303, 304 ; Fas- 



Edward III 



67 



Edward III 



dera^ iii. 911; ConU Mubihuth, p. 210; 
WitKnrs, Concilia, iiL 94). No incident of 
anj importance took place in the war daring 
this year; Lancaster, who commanded in 
A^uitaine, did little good, and the French 
gamed ground in Poitou. In the parliament 
of this year the commons presented a peti- 
tion to the king representing the lamentahle 
condition of the navy and the mismanage- 
ment of all maritime affairs. Much ill-will 
exbted between the English and Flemish 
sailors, and, probably early in 1372, some 
English ships fell in with a Flemish fleet | 
coming from Brittany with salt, and after a 
fierce engagement, in which the Flemish are j 
said to have been the aggressors, defeated 
them and took twenty-five prizes (Froiss art, ; 
i. 631, ed. Buchon ; Cont Murimitth, p. 211 ; i 
Walsixgham, L 313). On the foUowing 1 
6 April thepeace between Edward and the \ 
Count of Flanders was renewed (^FcBdera, \ 
iii. 939, 953). Negotiations which had been 
opened with Edward's old ally, the Duke of 
Brittany, in November 1871, were brought to 
a conclusion by an offensive and defensive 
league between the king and the duke on 
19 July foUowing (ib. pp. 926, 953\ Gre- 
gory Xl endeavoured to make peace between 
England and France and accre^it^d two car- 
dinius, one a Frenchman and the other Simon 
Langham, sometime archbishop of Canter- 
bury, to carry on negotiations, but they were 
unable to effect anything (ib. p. 935). In 
January 1872 Edward made a treaty with 
the republic of Genoa, which agreed not to 
fumisn help to his enemies (ib. p. 931). On 
the other hand, the marriages of Lancaster 
and Cambridge with the two daughters of 
Pedro the Cruel,slain in 1369, and Lancaster's 
assumption of the title of king of Castile, 
caused Henry of Trastamare, who since his 
brother's death had occupied the throne of 
that kingdom, to take an active part against 
England. During the early part of 1372 a 
considerable fleet was prepared in order to 
reinforce the English party m Aquitaine, and 
by the king's command mariners were im- 
pressed through all the western counties {ib, 
p. 938). At the same time there was reason 
to believe that an invasion of the kingdom 
was imminent {ib, p. 942). The command 
of the expedition was given to the Earl of 
Pembroke, who was appointed the king's lieu- 
tenant in Aquitaine on 20 April {ib, p. 941) ; 
for Lancaster had returned to England and 
was now at the head of affairs, and Pembroke 
appears to have belonged to his party. Pem- 
broke sailed about 10 June, intending to re- 
lieve Rochelle, which was then besieged by 
the French. When he arrived off the har- 
bour he found it occupied by a considerably 



stronger Spanish fleet. Early on the 24th 
the enemy, who had the wind in their favour, 
surrounded his fleet, and after a fierce battle 
burnt his ships and made him prisoner. He 
was carrying twenty thousand marks to pay 
the troops in Guyenne, and this sum was all 
lost (Fboissart, i. 038; Cont. Murimuth, 

E. 212). Edward was much grieved when 
e heard of this disaster, which indeed gave 
the deathblow to his power in the south. 
Poitiers and Rochelle were shortly afterwards 
yielded to the French. Thouars was besieged, 
and the king determined to attempt its relief 
in person. A fresh fleet was raised, and he 
embarked at Sandwich with the Prince of 
Wales, Lancaster, and nearly the whole no- 
bility of the realm, and sailed probably on 
31 Aug. The wind was contrary, and the 
fleet never got far from land. By 9 Oct. the 
king bad landed again (Nicolas), and, though 
the wind changed as soon as he landed, md 
not re-embark, and so, it was commonly said, 
900,000/. were wasted (Walsingham, i. 315). 
All Poitou except a few fortresses turned to 
the French king, and Du Guesclin was vir- 
tually master in Saintonge and Angoumois. 
On 5 Oct. Edward received the prince's sur- 
render of Aquitaine {Foedera, iii. 973). This 
was announced to the parliament that met 
on the 13th ; another heavy subsidy on wool 
was granted for two years and a fifteenth for 
one year to meet the king's urgent need of 
money for the expenses of the war, and seve- 
ral petitions were presented. In one of these 
the commons represented that, though twenty 
years before the king was called by all coun- 
tries ' king of the sea,' the navy was now de- 
stroyed, and that principally because ships 
were impressed a quarter of a year or more 
before tney set sail, and no pay was given 
either to mariners or owners Avhile they re- 
mained in port waiting for orders (Rot. Pari, 
ii. 311). They further requested that no 
lawyers might be eligible as knights of the 
shire on the ground that they pressed their 
clients' interests in parliament instead of at- 
tending to public affairs, and that no sheriff 
miffht be returned during his term of office. 
While there were no doubt special reasons 
for these requests, as there had been for the 
attack on clerical ministers the year before, 
they prove that the burden of taxation, the 
ill-success of the war, and the general mal- 
administration of affairs were causing the 
nation to grow restless ; men were conscious 
that some change was necessary, and had not 
as yet settled in what direction it should be 
made. When the knights of the shire had 
gone home the citizens and burgesses were 
persuaded to make the king a grant of cus- 
toms, which was clearly an unconstitutional 

p2 



Edward III 



68 



Edward III 



proceeding (ib. ii. 310; Hallam, Middle Ages, 
lii. 47 ; Stubbs, Const. HUt ii. 424). 

In February 1373 a fleet was fitted out, 
partly composed of Genoese galleys {Fcedera, 
lii. 965, 970), and sent with a force under 
Salisbury to Brittany, where Du Guesclin 
was carrying all before him. Some Spanish 
ships were burnt at St. Malo, the country 
was ravaged, and Du Guesclin, who would 
not be tempted to give battle, raised the siege 
of Brest. On 12 June the king appointed 
Lancaster, who was then in full power, his 
captain-general in France (ih. p. 982), and 
sent him with a large army to Calais. He 
rode through the land without meeting any 
resistance and wasting the country terribly. 
When he reached Bordeaux his army was 
thinned by hunger and disease, and nearly all 
his horses had perished on the march, so that 
the splendid force with which he left Calais 
was utterly ruined though it had fought no 
battle (for details see Gaxtxt, John of ; Wal- 
siNGHAtf , i. 315). More money was needed, 
and was demanded of the parliament on 
21 Nov. For the first time at the request of 
the commons certain lords held a conference 
with *hem ; the grant was not made until 
aiwjr five days' debate, and then it was joined 
with a request that it should be spent only 
on the war (Const. Hist ii. 426). A petition 
was also presented that the king would find 
a remedy for papal provisions, by which the 

Sope obtained the first-fruits of ecclesiastical 
ignities and money was drawn away from 
the realm. To this it was answered that he 
had already sent ambassadors to the Roman 
court. On 8 Aug. of this year Edward gave 
all the jewels and other goods of his late 
queen to Alice Ferrers (Fwdera, iii. 989). 
liancaster returned to England in April 1374, 
and Aquitaine, with the exception of Bor- 
deaux and Bayonne, turned to the French 
king (Cont. Murimuth, p. 215). Acting on 
the petition of the parliament of the last year, 
Edward on 16 April sent a writ to each of 
the bishops commanding them to inform him 
what dignities and benefices within their re- 
spective dioceses were held by foreigners. 
And he further sent ambassadors, one of whom 
was Dr. John Wycliffe {Focdera, iii. 1071), 
to a conference Gregory had called to meet 
at Bruges. At this conference the pope acted 
as a peacemaker, and on 27 June 13/5 Lan- 
caster obtained a year's truce with France 
and Castile, which was afterwards prolonged 
and virtually lasted during the rest of the 
reign. Another result of the conference was 
an agreement between the king and the pope, 
dated 1 Sept., by which, though some tem- 
porary concessions were made by the pope, 
matters were left much as they were before 



(ib, p. 1037^. The national discontent found 
expression in 1370. Edward was completely 
governed by his mistress and neglected the 
affairs of the kingdom, while she used her 
power scandalously ; she interfered in law- 
suits, and even sat by the judges on the bench 
and with the doctors in the ecclesiastical 
courts ( Chron. AnfflicB, p. 96). She was up- 
held by Lancaster, who thus secured his posi- 
tion as the virtual head of the government. 
He was selfish, ambitious, and unpopular,, 
and was allied with a clique of courtiers who 
plundered the king and the nation unscru- 
pulously. The failure of the war had been 
Drought about by the incapacity and neglect 
of the government, the heavy taxes under 
which the country suffered were paid in vain^ 
and the administration was thoroughly cor- 
rupt. No parliament had been summoned 
since November 1373. On 28 April a par- 
liament met which received the title of the 
*Good parliament* (Walsingham, i. 324). 
Again the commons requested that certain 
of the magnates would confer with them. 
An attack, in which they were upheld by 
the Prince of Wales and the Bishop of Win- 
chester, was made by the mouth of the speaker^ 
Peter de la Mare, on the evils of the adminis- 
tration and especially on the abuses of the 
staple, the loans raised by the king, and th& 
traffic that the court party carried on in them. 
The speaker impeached Lord Latimer, the 
king's chamberlain, and Lyons, his financial 
agent, of fraud and other misdemeanors ; on 
one occasion they had raised twenty thousand 
marks from the merchants for the king*s use 
and had embezzled the money. Lyons offered 
the king a bribe, which he received gladly^ 
observing, ' He owes us this and mucn more, 
so he only offers us our own* (tb. p. 80). Ed- 
ward, however, was not able and probably 
did not attempt to do anything either for himi 
or Latimer, and they were condemned to im- 
prisonment and the one to total, the other to 
part ial, forfeiture. Sir Richard Stury was alsa 
banished from the court for making mischief 
between the king and the commons. When 
Edward found that the commons were about 
to proceed against his mistress, he sent a mes- 
sage to them begging them to deal gently with 
her for the sake of his love and his honour 
(ib, p. 97). She was banished from court. 
The death of the Prince of Wales on 8 June, 
though a sore blow to the commons, seema 
to have made them more determined ; they 
requested that they might see his son Richard, 
which was meant as a check to Lancaster's 
ambition [see under Gattitt, John of], and 
before granting supply demanded that the 
king should accept an elected council of lords, 
a condition to which he gave his assent at 



Edward III 



69 



Edward III 



dtham. A hundred and forty petitions 
presented, and among them the comi 
pn;ed thkt parliaments might be held An- 
nually and that knighta of the ahire might 
be chosen bj election and not nominated by 
thesherifia. The'Good parUament'wasdis- 
iniBBedonO July. Lancaster at anc« regaineil 
Itia former power, and carried out a retrograd,' 
policy which appears to have met witn thf 
king's approval. The lords elected to rein- 
force the council were dismissed, and thelati' 
TMirliameut was declared to be no parliament, 
Peter de la Mare was imprisoned, the tempo- 
ralities of the see of Winchester were eeixed, 
and by Edward's wish Alice Ferrers and the 
reat of those who had been banished irom 
court returned to it. On 7 Oct. Edward, 
whose etren gth was now failingrapidly, more, 
it was said, from self-indulgence than from 
old age, made his will and appointed Lan- 
caster and Latimer two of his executors (/'lE- , 
dera, iii. 1080). He was then at Havering- 
at-Ilower, Eaaex, where he remained until '< 
after Christmas. Lancaster so managed the 
elections that in the parliament that met on 
SrJan. 1377 the commons were almost wholly 
of his party [for details of the events of the 
remainder 01 the reign see under Gavnt, ' 
Joux OF, and CoBBTBHiT, William]. He 
strengthened himself by an alliance with 1 
Wvcliffe. The clergy struck at him by at- j 
tacking hia new ally. A riot was caused in 
London hy his insolent behaviour to Bishop 
Courtenay.' Sir Robert Ashton, the kings 
chamberlain, one of bis pnrty, jiresented the 
conduct of the Londoners in the worst light 1 
to the king. After some diiScultya deputa- ' 
tiOQ from the city obtained an audience of 
the king at Sheen. Edward received them 
graciously and his tact and courtesy allayed 
the tumult, but he was unable to makepeace 
between them and the duke. Parliameut re- 
stored Alice Ferrers, Latimer, and Lvons, ' 
and granted a poll-tax of 4if. a head, which I 
was disliked by the people generally (Jir<i"cn, 
p. 130; Walsisoham, i. 3^3). In comme- 
moration of the completion of the jubilee year 
of his reign, and at the requestof parliament, ' 
Edward granted a pardon, from which, how- 
ever, the Bishopof Winchester was excepted. 
On 15 Feb. he also published articles to which 
fas said the pope bad agreed verballv, snd 
which contained some advance on the letters 
of 1 Sept. 1376 ; the pope gave up reserva- 
tions, would not take action with respect to 
bishonnes until a free election had been made, 
would give some relief to the clergy in the 
matter of first-fruits, and would act mode- 
rately aa to provisions and the appointment 
of foreigners; while the king promised to 
fthatain irom interfering with presentationa 



to benefices {Fadera, iii. 1072 ; Cowit. Ilut. 
ii. 427 n. 2). The clergy, led by Bishop 
I Courtenay, upheld the cause of the Bishop of 
Winchester, who at last obtained the restora- 
j tion of his temporalities by bribing the king's 
' mistress. Although the king, who remained 
I at Sheen, was growing weaker, Alice Perrers 
encouraged him to believe that he was not 
dyinc;, and he talked of nothing but hunting 
and hawking. Un 21 June, Qowever, his 
voice failed, and she then took the rings 
off bis fingers and left him {Chron. Aaglia, 
p. 143). All his courtiers deserted him, and 
only a single priest attended his deathbed 
out of compassion. He regained his voice 
sufficiently toutter the words 'Jesu miserere,' 
kissed the cross that the priest pieced in his 
I hands, and shortly afterwards died in the 
aixty-fiflh year of his age and the fifty-first 
' of liis reign. He waa buried in Westminster 
Abbey, near the body of his queen Philippa, 
Besides his works at Windsor he founded 
the Cistercian abbey of St. Mary Graces or 
Eastminster, near East Smithfield (Monat- 
ticon, V. 717), a nunnery at Dartford in Kent 
(iS. vi. 537), King's Hall at Cambridge, and 
a church end hospital at Calais (Bibxgs, 
p. 910). lie had twelve children, whose, 
elfigies appear on his tomb : Edward, prince 
of Wales; Lionel, duke of Clarence; John 
of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster; Edmund of 
Langluv, earl of Cambridge, and aftenvards 
duke of York ; Thomas of Woodstock, after- 
wards earl of Buckingham and duke of Glou- 
cester; and two sons, both named William, 
who died in infancy; and five daughters: 
Isabella, married to lugelram de Couci; Joan, 
betrothed to Pedro 01 Aragon, but died in 
1348 ; Mary, married to John of Mootfort, 
duke of Britanny; Margaret, betrothed to 
.lohn Hastings, earl of Pembroke, but died 
unmarried ; and Blanche, died in infancy. 
Edward is also said to have had a bastard 
Hon, Nicholas Litlincton, abbot of Weetmin- 
iter from 1362 to 138fi (Barnes, p. 910; 
DtTODALE, Monatticon, i. 275). 

[Joahun HamBs'aLife ot Edward III, a leomed 
Tork. oontains some information ^m an un- 
printed C. C. C. ]UR. 1688; Longman's life aod 
Times of Kdward III, inlxrestiiig, tboogh weak in 
i-onslitulional history ; Warburton's Edward III, 
Epocha of Modern Uistory. For conatitntional 
liiitory the modum authorities are Hullam's 
Middle Ages, ed. 1860; BudStubU's Const. Hist. 
\'oI. ii. For early yciirs consult Ann. Faulini, 
iini! Briiilington, in Chronicles ot Edw. 1 and 
KAv. II (Rolls Ser.). and W. Dene, Anglia Sacra, 
vol. i. For general history, Murimuth with ion- 
tinuHlion, and Hemingburgh (Engl. Hist. .'^.) ; 
Jiaighlon, ed. Twysden ; Cliron. Gal. le Baker, 
111. (iilEs; Stow's Annates; Wiilninghsm (Rolls 
^r.) ; Eulogium (Bolls Ser.) ; Political Songa 



Edward IV 70 Edward IV 

(Rolls Sor.) ; Rolls of Parliament, vol. ii. ; Ry- of Cambridge, by his wife, Anne Mortimer, 
mer's Fcedera, ii. ii. iii. i. ii. Record ed. For last Cecily, the wife of Richard, duke of York, 
years, Chronicon Anglise (Rolls Ser.) For ecclo- bore him no leas than eight sons and four 
siastical history, Wilkius's Concilia, vols. ii. and daughters within the space of sixteen years, 
iii.; Raynaldi, Ann. Eccles. sub ann. ; Birching- of whom the eldest waa Anne, afterward* 
ton's Anglia Sacra, vol.1.; Collier's Ecclesinstical Juchess of Exeter, bom at Fotheringay in 
Hist vol. 111. For the French wars, Chroniques ^^^ rj.^^^ ^^^ jj ^^^ ^^ ^^^ \^^^ 
de Jehan le Bel ed. Polain (Acad^mie Impe- ^ ^ ^ Edward, afterwards Ed- 
nale); and also for much besides Chronique de ^'J rVr v *'"^" j^^"**"? »^i^i,^u^y*a ^v* 
Froisskrt, ed. Luce, vols, i-viii., Soci^t6 de I'His- J^l^ ^y> ^^rn at Rouen, as we are minutely 
toire de France, and ed. Buchon, Pantht^on told, at two o clock m the morning of Mon- 
Litt^rairo ; Gulielmus de Nangiaco, Societe de day, 28 April 1442. As 28 April in that 
I'Histoire ; Memoires do Bertrand du Guesclin, year was a Saturday, not a Monday, ther© 
Pantheon Litt. ; Delepiorro's Jean le Klerk, is some error. At the age of twelve, when 
Edouard III en Belgiquo ; Robert of Avesbury, bearing the title of the Earl of March, he 
ed. Heamo, especially valuable for the letters he and his brother Edmund, called Earl of Rut- 
preserves; Istorie Pistolesi, Gio. Villani, and land, who was a year his junior, wrote two 
Matteo Villani in vols. xi. xiii. and xiv. rcspec- joint letters to their father from Ludlow, the 
tively of Muratori's Rerum Ital. Scriptores; 'first dated Saturday in Easter week, the se- 
Baron Seymour de Constant's Bataille de Crecy, gonj qq 3 ju^g^ j^ the first they thank 
ed 1846 ; F. C. Louandre's Histoire d'Abbe- ^^^^ ^^^ , ^^^ ^^^ ^^3 ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
ville ; Arch^logia. xxnii. 171, xxxn. 383; H. ^ ^^^ ^^^ comfort; beseeching your good 
Brackonbury s Ancient Cannon m Europe, pt. 1. ; 1 Q-jgUin to remember our tiorteux Ti e bri»- 
Martin's Histoire de Fmnce, vol. v. For Scottish ^^^asnip to rememDer our porteux [i.e. Dre- 
affairs,Fordun'sScotichronicon,ed.Hearne;Lord 7*^^]» and that we might have some fine 
Hailes'sAnnals; Tytler's Hist, of Scotland, vol.i.; bonnets sent unto us by the next sure mes- 
Froissart, and English authorities. See also Ro- senger, for necessity so requireth.' In the 
gers's Hist. ogPrices, and arts, on • Black Death ' other, taking note of a paternal admonition, 
in Fortnightly Rev. ii. and iii., by 3Ir. Frederic *to attend speciaUy to our learning in our 
Seebobm and Prof. J. E. T. Rogers ; Sir H. young age that should cause us to grow to 
Nicolas's Royal Navy, Chronology of History, honour and worship in our old age,* they as- 
and Orders of Knighthood ; Ashmolo's Order of sure their father that they have been diligent 
the Garter.] W. H. in their studies ever since coming to Ludlow 

EDWARD IV (1442-1483), king of (Ellis Letters, 1st ser. i. 9 ; Paston Letters, 
England, was the son of Richard, duke of new ed. vol. i. Introd. p. cxi). 
York, by his wife Cecily Nevill, daughter of This was in the year before the first actual 
the first Earl of "Westmorland. His father outbreak of the civil war, which is con- 
was descended from PMward III by both sidered to have begun with the battle of St. 
parents, being the lineal representative both Albans. But at the very commencement of 
of Lionel, duke of Clarence, Edward's third the year it was expected that the boy Edward 
son, and of Edmund, duke of York, his fifth, would leave his studies and come up to Lon- 
The rival house of Lancaster, on the other don with his father, at the head of a separate 
hand, were descended from John of Gaunt, company of armed men. Next year, by one 
the fourth son ; but Lionel, duke of Cla- account, he actually accompanied his father 
rence, though an elder brother, left no male to the battle of St. Albans, or at least towards 
issue, and his great-grandson, Edmund Mor- the council summoned to meet at Leicester 
timer, was a mere infant when Henry IV just before (Three Fifteenthrcentury Chro- 
usurped the throne. Nor does it a])pear that nicies^ pp. 151 -:i). But it seems clear that he 
in after years this Edmund himself showed was not in the battle, of which one rather 
any disposition to vindicate bis right ; but minute report has come down to us; and if 
early in the roign of Ilonry V a conspiracy he went as far as Leicester, he probably re- 
was formed in his behalf by his cousin turned to Ludlow. At all events, we hear no- 
Richard, earl of Cambridge, who had married thingmore of him tillfour years later (12 Oct. 
his sister and was himself the son of the 1459), when there was a great muster of the 
before-mentioned Edmund, duke of York. Duke of York's adherents at that very place,. 
The plot was detected just before Henrj' V the duke himself at their head. But when 
crossedthesea, in his first invasion of France; the king's army lay encamped opposite the 
the Earl of Cambridge confessed and was be- Yorkists, the latter were deserted by a large 
headed, and nothing was heard for upwards body under Sir Andrew Trollope, and found 
of forty years of any further attempt to dial- it impossible to maintain the fight. The 
lenge the right of the house of Lancaster. Duke of York and his second son Rutland 

Richard duke of York, the father of Ed- fled first to Wales and then to Ireland, while 

ward IV, was the son of this Richard, carl Edward, his eldest, along with the Earls of 



Edward IV 



71 



Edward IV 



Salisbury and Warwick, withdrew into De- 
Tonshire, and then sailed, first to Guernsey 
and afterwards to Calais. Then a parliament 
was held at Coventry in November, at which 
all the leading Yorkists were attainted, and 
among them Edward, earl of March by name, 
as having been arrayed against the king 
{JRolU qfParl v. 348-9). 

The Earl of Warwick, however, being 
governor of Calais, and having also command 
of the fleet, held a strong position, from which 
he and his aUies, March and Salisbury, could 
invade England ; so that every one looked 
for their return. A mutilated letter of the 
time says it was expected that Edward would 
claim by inheritance the earldom of Ha .... 
(Paston Letters, i. 497). It is difficult to 
fill up the name or to think of any earl- 
dom other than that of March to which he 
could lay reasonable claim. But the impor- 
tant fact was, that he and the two other earls 
were there at Calais and could not be dis- 
lodged, while Warwick,, having command of 
the sea, could communicate with the Duke 
of York in Ireland. In vain did the govern- 
ment in England supersede Warwick in the 
command of Calais and of the fleet, the Duke 
of Somerset being appointed to the one office 
and Lord Rivers to the other. The lords re- 
fused Somerset admission into the town, and 
some vessels were collected at Sandwich to 
aid in reducing it. Lord Rivers and his son, 
Sir Anthony Woodville, were apparently to 
have conducted the squadron across the 
Channel. But John Dynham, a Devonshire 
squire, crossed the sea at night, and arriving 
at Sandwich between four and five on a darn 
winter morning, soon after Christmas, seized 
Lord Rivers in his bed, won the town, took 
the best ships lying in the harbour, and ear- 
ned Rivers and his son across to Calais. 

' My Lord Rivers,' as a contemporary letter 
says, ' was brought to Calais, and before the 
lords, with ei^ht score torches; and there 
my lord of Sabsbury rated him, calling him 
knave's son that he should be so rude to 
call him and these other lords traitors, for 
they should be found the king's true liege- 
men when he should be found a traitor. And 
my lord of Warwick rated him, and said that 
his fiither was but a squire. . . . And my lord 
of March rated him in like wise.' My lord of 
March was then scolding his future father- 
iorlaw ! 

The command of the fleet was then given 
to the Duke of Exeter, who fared little better 
than his predecessor, being driven back into 
port by Warwick's men-of-war. Every at- 
tempt against the three earls was frustrated, 
and friends in large numbers came over from 
England to join tnem. At length Warwick, 



having sailed to Ireland and arranged mea- 
sures in concert with the Duke of York, re- 
turned to Calais ; and in June 1460 the three 
earls crossed the sea again to England. In 
their company went Francesco Coppini,bishop 
of Temi, a papal nuncio who had been in 
England the preceding year. Owing to the 
dissensions there, his mission had been a 
failure, but having reached Calais on his 
return he was induced by Warwick to re- 
main there, and he became so complete a par- 
tisan of the three earls as to go back to Eng- 
land in their company, displaying the banner 
of the church (Pii II Commentarii a Gobel- 
lino, 161, ed. Rome, 1684). He was per- 
suaded that their intentions were entirely 
loyal. So the three earls landed at Sand- 
wich, as it were, with the blessing of the 
church; and Archbishop Bourchier, who met 
them on landing, conducted them to London 
with his cross borne before him. 

They reached the capital on 2 July, and, 
notwithstanding the opposition of a small 
minority, the city opened its gates to them. 
After a brief stay they advanced towards 
the king, whose army they found drawn up 
in a valley beside Northampton. The king 
was in the camp, but the real commander 
seems to have been the Duke of Bucking- 
ham. The three earls occupied a hill from 
which they could see almost all that was 
passing. They sent a message to know 
whether the king and his advisers would 
quit the field or fight ; to which Bucking- 
ham replied disdainfully that he could not 
leave without fighting. After a two or three 
hours' combat the royal army was defeated, 
the Duke of Buckingham slam, and the king 
himself taken prisoner, whom the earls con- 
ducted up to London with much outward 
respect and lodged in his palace of West- 
minster. The government was now conducted 
by the earls m the king's name ; aijd a par- 
liament was summoned to meeMllt West- 
minster on 7 Oct. The Duke of York was 
expected over from Ireland, and he had ac- 
tually crossed the Irish Channel by the middle 
of September. The duke, as we read in a 
letter of the time, * had divers strange com- 
missions from the king to sit in divers towns ' 
on his way up to London ; and it was not 
till 10 Oct. that he arrived there. And now, 
laying aside his former moderation, he at 
once made it manifest that he aimed at the 
deposition of the king. 

He took up his quarters in the royal palace, 
which he entered sword in hand. On the 
16th he challenged the crown in parliament 
as rightfully his own. The lords were in- 
timidated, and many stayed away. A com- 
promise was finally agreed to on both sides 



Edward IV 



72 



Edward IV 



that Henry should retain the crown for life, 
the succession being reserved to the duke and 
his heirs immediately after him. And so it 
was accordingly enacted, the duke and his 
two eldest sons swearing fealty to Henry so 
long as he should live. The duke then with 
his second son, the Earl of Rutland, with- 
drew into the north to keep Christmas at his 
castle of Sandal, while Edward returned to 
the borders of Wales and kept his Christmas 
at the Friars at Shrewsbury. But the par- 
liamentary settlement was not respectea by 
Queen Margaret and her adherents, who on 
80 Dec. defeated and slew the Duke of York 
at Wakefield; then with a host of rough 
northern followers advanced towards Lon- 
don, ravaging the country frightfully upon 
the way. 'ioung Edward, who was then at 
Gloucester, hearing of this disaster, at once 
raised a body of thirty thousand men upon 
the borders of Wales, and would have gone 
immediately to meet the queen's forces, but 
he was informed that the Earl of Wiltshire, 
with Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, the 
king's half-brother, had arrived in Wales by 
sea with a body of Frenchmen, Bretons, and 
Irishmen, who were ready to fall upon his 
rear. So he turned and gave them battle at 
Mortimer's Cross in Herefordshire, where he 
completely defeated them and put them to 
flight on 2 Feb. 1461. In the morning, just 
before the battle, he is said to have been en- 
couraged by what he interpreted as a happy 
omen. The sun appeared to be like three 
suns which ultimately joined together in 
one. After the victory he pushed on to Lon- 
don, where when he arrived he was received 
as a deliverer. For Margaret and her north- 
ern bands having meanwhile won the se- 
cond battle of St. Albans (17 Feb.\ she had 
thereby recovered her husband, ana as it was 
clear no mercy could be expected even by 
those who had upheld the parliamentary 
settlement, the city was dividea between fear 
and hatred. Emissaries of the queen came 
to demand a contribution of money and pro- 
visions for her army. They were not allowed 
entrance into the city, and when the mayor 
had laden some carts with the required sup- 
plies, the people took the carts and divided 
the provisions and money among themselves. 
Edward arrived in London 26 Feb., the 
ninth day after the battle of St. Albans, hav- 
ing been joined on the way up by the Earl of 
Warwick at Burford in Oxfordshire. He and 
the carl together had forty thousand men along 
with them, and all classes of the community 
welcomed them with delight. For a few days 
he took up his abode in the Bishop of Lon- 
don's palace, and numbers of the gentry of 
the south and east of England came up to 



show their devotion to him. On Sunday, 
1 March, George Xevill, bishop of Exeter, 
who had been appointed lord chancellor by 
the Yorkists shortly after the battle of North- 
ampton, addressed a large meeting at Clerk- 
enwell, composed partly of the citizens and 
partly of Edward^ soldiers, declaring how 
Edward might rightly ^laim the crown. On 
3 March a great council was called at Bay- 
nard's Castle, a mansion which had belonged 
to the Duke of York, and it was agreed that 
Edward was now the rightful king, Henry 
having forfeited his claim by breach of the 
late parliamentary settlement. On the 4th 
Edward entered \Vestminster HaU, seated 
himself on the royal throne, and declared his 
title to the people with his own mouth. The 
people were then asked if they would accept 
him, and there was a general cry of ' Yea ! 
yea !' after which he entered the abbey and 
offered at St. Edward's shrine. Next day pro- 
clamations were issued in his name as king. 

Meanwhile Queen Margaret had with- 
drawn with her husband back into the north. 
Thither Edward determined to pursue them 
without loss of time, and he left the city on 
13 March, accompanied by the Duke of Nor- 
folk. The Earl of Warwick had already left 
for the north in advance of him, on Saturday 
the 7th, and the main body of Edward's own 
infantry on Wednesday the 11 th. The united 
forces, to which the city gladly contributed a 
company, were no doubt enormous, though 
the arithmetic of the time cannot be relied 
on as to their numbers. Having reached Pom- 
fret their advanced guard took, after a six 
hoiu*s' skirmish, the passage of the Aire at 
Ferrybridge, which Lord Fitzwalter was ap- 
pointed to keep. Henry and Queen Margaret 
had thrown themselves into York, but a force 
under the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of North- 
umberland, and Lord Clifford crossed the 
Whnrfe, and early in the morning of Satur- 
day 28 March a detachment under Lord Clif- 
ford retook the bridge at Ferrybridge by 
surprise, and killed Lord Fitzwalter. Lord 
Falconbridge, however, forced a passage at 
Castleford, a few miles up the nver; and 
Clifford, to avoid being surrounded, endea- 
voured to fall back upon the main body of 
the army under Somerset, but was slain by an 
arrow in the throat. Next day. Palm Sunday, 
took place the bloody battle of Towton, in 
whicn the Lancastrians were utterly defeated. 
It is not easy to credit the contemporary 
statement that tAventy-eight thousana deaa 
were actually counted by the heralds upon the 
field ; but unquestionably the slaughter was 
tremendous, the fight being obstinately main- 
tained for no less than ten hours. The snow 
which fell during the action and helped to 



Edward IV 



73 



Edward IV 



defeat the Lancastrians, being driven by tbe 
wind in their faces, was dyea crimson as it 
lay. The Wharfe and its tributaries were 
also coloured with blood. The dead lay un- 
buried for two or three days over a space six 
miles in length by nearly naif a mile broad. 

This great victoiy secured Edward in the 
possession of the throne. Henry and Mar- 
garet were driven to seek refuge m Scotland, 
and Edward, after keeping Easter at York, 
returned to London to be crowned. His 
two brothers, Oeorge and Kichard, whom the 
Duchess of York after her husband's death 
had sent over to Utrecht for safety, came 
back and were created dukes with the titles 
of Clarence and Gloucester at the corona- 
tion, which took place on 28 June ; and a par- 
liament having been summoned to meet on 
4 Nov., Henry VI and all his adherents were 
attainted as traitors. 

For some years Edward was by no means 
securely seated. Henry and his queen ob- 
tained the aid of the Scots by putting them 
in possession of Berwick, and Margaret cross- 
ing to France gained also that of Louis XI 
by a pledge to surrender Calais. She re- 
turned to Scotland, and for a time obtained 
possession of the castles of Bamborough,Dun- 
stanborough, and Alnwick. Edward, who 
daring those early years was constantly upon 
the move, going from one part of his king- 
dom to another, left London at the beginning 
of November 1462, was at York on the 25th, 
and had reached Durham in December, when 
on Christmas eve the two former strongholds 
surrendered. Alnwick held out till 6 Jan. 
following (1463), when it too capitulated, 
and Edward was left for the moment master 
of all England and Wales, with the exception 
of Margaret's last stronghold in the latter 
country, Harlech Castle. 

He would have pursued his enemies into 
Scotland and made war against the Scots, 
who had perfidiously broken a truce, but 
he was prevented by an illness brought 
on by youthful debauchery, and withdrew 
southwards, on which the Scots, about the 
time of Lent, again invaded England and re- 
took Bamborough. Alnwick also was be- 
trayed by Sir Ralph Grey, the constable, who 
took the captain. Sir John Ashley, prisoner 
And delivered him to Queen Margaret. Dun- 
stanborough appears likewise to have been 
recovered by tne Scots, who, however, laid 
siege to Norham unsuccessfully, and were 
put to flight by Warwick and I^rd Mont- 
ague. Margaret, sailing from Bamborou^h 
(where she left her husband behind her) m 
April, escaped abroad once more. Edward, 
on the other hand, prorogued in June a par- 
liament which had met at Westminster in 



the end of April, in order to enable him to 
go in person against the Scots, who, in con- 
cert with p]nglish rebels, were continually 
molesting the kingdom {Holls of Pari, v. 498). 
Great preparations appear to have been maoe 
for an army to march northward, and a fleet, 
which was put under command of the Earl 
of Worcester, but nothing came of them. 
Edward did indeed march northwards; he 
had got to Northampton in July, and as far 
as York by December, but he appears to have 
advanced no further, and at York in Decem- 
ber he saw nothing better to do than to agree 
to a new truce with Scotland till the end of 
October following (Rtmeb, xi. 610). 

The Northumbrian castles were still in 
Lancastrian hands, but Edward seems to 
have believed that without the aid of the 
Scots his enemies could do nothing against 
him, and he allowed himself to be lulled into 
a state of false security which was truly mar- 
vellous. One gpround of his confidence seems 
to have been the belief that he had con- 
ciliated and won over to his side the young 
Duke of Somerset, whose father had been his 
own father^s chief opponent. Somerset ac- 
companied him on his progress towards the 
north, much to the indignation of the people 
of Northamptonshire, who had been devoted 
to the Duke of York and would have killed 
the head of the rival house within the king's 
own palace but for Edward's special inter- 
vention. And not only did Edward save his 
life and soothe his own followers by fair 
speeches, giving them also a tun of wme to 
drink and make merry with at Northampton, 
but he sent the duke secretly to one of his 
castles in Wales for security, and his men 
to Newcastle to help to garrison the town, 
giving them good wages at his own expense. 
But about Christmas the duke stole out of 
Wales with a small company towards New- 
castle, which he and his men had arranged^j^^ 
betrax^tothe enemy. His movements were 
discoverect, and he was very nearly taken 
in his bed in the neighbourhood of Durham, 
but he managed to escape barefooted in his 
shirt. 

Edward did not even yet bestir himself to 
meet the coming danger. He * sent a gp*eat 
fellowship of his household men to keep the 
town of N ewcastle, and made the Lord Scrope 
of Bolton captain of the town,' which he kept 
safe for the remainder of the winter. But 
he himself, after returning to London, spent 
the time in feasting with his lords, trusting 
to make a permanent peace with Scotland, for 
which the Scots themselves sued about Easter 
1464, and commissioners were appointed on 
both sides to meet at York, when news 
reached him that the Lancastrians had gained 



Edward IV 



74 



Edward IV 



possession not only of Norham Castle, but 
also of the castle of Skipton in Craven. He 
saw now that he must bestir himself, and 
began to move northwards aeain. Mean- 
while, further events were taking place in 
Northumberland. Lord Montague, being as- 
signed to meet the Scotch ambassadors on 
the frontier and conduct them to York, pro- 
ceeded first to Newcastle, where he escaped 
an ambush laid for him on the way by the 
Duke of Somerset; and then collecting a 
considerable body of men for safety went 
on towards Norham. He was met at Hedgley 
Moor on St. Mark's day, 25 April, by the 
Duke of Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, Lord 
Hungerford, and others, with a force of five 
thousand men, which he completely defeated. 
He then passed on to Norham, which appa- 
rently he regained for Edward, and, receiving 
the Scotch ambassadors there, conducted them 
to Newcastle. Here, however, he had not 
rested long when he was compelled to ad- 
vance towards Hexham, where he met King 
Henry himself, who from Bamborough had re- 
joined his defeated followers Somerset, lords 
Koos and Hungerford, and others — in short, 
the whole power of the Lancastrian party in 
the north of England. Lord Montague was 
again victorious. Somerset, Hungerford, and 
most of the other leaders were taken, and 
Kinff Henry saved himself by flight. The prin- 
cipal prisoners were beheaded, some next day 
at Hexham, others three days after the battle 
at Newcastle, and the fourth day at Middle- 
ham ; others, again, towards the end of the 
month at York. The cause of the house of 
Lancaster was completely crushed ; and in 
the course of the summer Alnwick, Dunstan- 
borough, and Bamborough again came under 
Edward*s power. 

Edward had contributed nothing person- 
ally to this result. He had, indeed, left Lon- 
don towards the end of April, and had reached 
Stony Stratford by the 30th ; but his mind 
was not even then much bent on war. Ho 
stole off early next morning (I May) to pay 
a secret visit to Grafton, the residence of the 
old Duchess of Bedford, widow of the regent 
who had governed France in the early years 
of Henry VI. This lady, after Bedford's death, 
had married a second hu8band,Kic1iard Wood- 
ville, lord Rivers, by whom she had a grown- 
up daughter, Elizabeth, now the widow of 
Sir John Grey of Groby. Edward had already 
been much fascinated with the charms of this 
young widow, and though he stayed on this 
occasion a very brief time with her, return- 
ing in a few hours to Stony Stratford, he 
was privately married to her that dav before 
he left Grafton ; soon after which ne went 
on to York, as if nothing particular had 



occurred to him, and created Montague Earl 
of Northumberknd. 

The marriage was carefully kept secret for 
some time. Matches had already been sug- 
gested for him in various quarters. Isabella, 
princess of Castile, afterwards queen and 
loint ruler with Ferdinand of Aragon, might 
nave been his bride ; and at this very time 
his council were inclined to favour a match 
with Bona of Savoy, sister-in-law of Louis XI 
of France. The chief promoter of this mat^h 
was his powerful supporter the Earl of War- 
wick, who was expected in France in the 
course of the year to arrange it. Not only 
would Warwick be disgusted by the failure 
of the match, but Warwick's policy, which 
was to make a cordial alliance with France 
and Burgundy, would probably be discon- 
certed. A truce with France had already 
been arranged in April to last till October, 
and a diet was meanwhile to take place at 
St. Omer's, with a view to a more lasting 

?eace (Rtmer, 1st ed. xi. 518, 520, 521). 
'he secret must be disclosed before Warwick 
went abroad to negotiate the match with 
Bona; and about Michaelmas at Reading 
Edward informed his council that he was 
already a married man (W. Wtkcester ; see 
also foot-notes in Kirk, Charles the Bold, i. 
415, ii. 15). 

Warwick was offended, and many of the 
nobility shared his feelings. The mission of 
Warwick to France was broken off, and there 
was some uncertainty at first how far Louis 
would be inclined towards peace. The peer* 
summoned to the council at Reading held 
consultations among themselves whether the 
marriage could not be annulled ( Ven. CaL 
i. No. 395). But Warwick concealed his re- 
sentment, and Louis had difficulties to con- 
tend with in his own kingdom which made 
it unadvisable to attempt immediately to 
raise up trouble for Edward. Meanwhile 
the disaffection was increased by the honours 
showered upon the new queen's relations. 
Her father, a simple baron, was raised to the 
dignity of Earl . Kivers. Her brother An- 
thony had already married a wealthy heiress, 
and thereby won the title of I-iora Scales ; 
but another brother, five sisters, and her son 
by her first husband, Tliomas Grey, were aU 
married to members of great and wealthy 
houses. Leading offices of state were also 
engrossed by the upstarts in a way that did 
not tend to relieve tlieir unpopularity. 

Edward in fact did not shirk or endeavour 
in anyway to lessen the consequences of what 
he had done. On Whitsunday, 26 May 1465, 
he caused his queen to be crowned at West- 
minster. She seems to have borne him three 
daughters before the birth of their eldest son, 



Edward IV 



75 



Edward IV 



-who was only bom in the seventh year of 
their married life ; and the absence of male 
issue no doubt helped to strengthen the com- 
bination which drove him for a time into 
exile. Meanwhile fortune seemed to favour 
his cause. About the end of June 1465 
Henry VI was taken in Lancashire, and be- 
in^ brought up to London in Julv was lodged 
safely in the Tower. Warwick s policy also 
was thwarted ; for though Edward sent him 
to France in embassy in the spring of 1467, 
and he did his utmost to promote a cor- 
dial alliance, for the sake of which Louis was 
willing to have made large concessions, the 
French offers were not only rejected with dis- 
dain, but Edward showed himself bent rather 
on cultivating the friendship of France's dan- 
gerous rival Burgundy. 

It was in honour of this alliance that the fa- 
mous tournament took place in Smithfield in 
June 1467 between Lord Scales and the Bas- 
tard of Burgundy. About the same time 
Philip, duke of Burgundy, died at Bruges, and 
his son Charles, count of Charolois, already 
affianced to Edward's sister Margaret, became 
duke in his place. Warwick was at that very 
time in France, and on his return brought 
with him an embassy from Louis to Eng- 
land; but he found that his brother, the 
Archbishop of York, had meanwhile been 
deprived of the great seal, and that Edward 
was less inclined to a French alliance than 
He had been cultivating alliances all 



ever. 



over Europe, except with the old traditional 
enemy of Englana, and the idea of revindi- 
cating Englisn claims on France was still 
popular. 

In May 1468 Edward declared to parlia- 
ment his intention of invading France m per- 
son, and obtained a grant of two fifteenths 
and two tenths, with a view to a future ex- 
pedition (JRolUofParl v. 622-3). The mar- 
riage of his sister Margaret to Charles the 
Bold of Burgundy took place near Bruges 
in July following. Warwick, who had held 
his own correspondence with Louis XI for 
the purpose of thwarting Edward's policy, 
disliked both the match and the alliance 
which it was to cement ; but he dissembled 
his feelings, and conducted Margaret to the 
seaside on her way to the Low Countries. 
The French king was secretly encouraging 
Margaret of Anjou, and many arrests were 
made in England of persons accused of con- 
veying or receiving messages from her. In 
June Jasper Tudor, the attainted earl of 
Pembroke, half-brother to Henry VI, landed 
at Harlech in Wales, a castle which alone 
at this time held out for the house of Lan- 
caster, and succeeded for a while in reducing 
tome of the neighbouring country, where he 



held sessions and assizes in King HenrVs 
name ; but he was very soon driven out by 
Lord Herbert, whom Edward rewarded by 
creating him Earl of Pembroke, the better to 
discredit Jasper's title. 

Warwick, too, was actively intriguing 
against Edward in his own kingdom. Ho 
had already, apparently soon after the an- 
nouncement of the king's marriage, held a 
conference with the king's two brothers at 
Cambridge, in which he made them many 
promises calculated to shake their allegiance. 
He offered the Ihike of Clarence the hand of 
his eldest daughter, with the prospect of in- 
heriting at least one half of his vast posses- 
sions. The duke at once accepted, and though 
he at first denied his engagement when Ed- 
ward charged him with it, replied in answer 
to further remonstrances that even if he had 
made such a contract it was not a bad one. 
From this time his relations with the king^ 
were uncomfortable, and he was more and 
more in Warwick's confidence. He was still 
further confirmed in this by Edward's in- 
civility toWarwick and the embassy that came 
with him from Louis XI. It was noted that he 
alone went to meet the ambassadors on their 
arrival ; and when Edward, after admitting 
them to one formal inter\'iew, withdrew to 
Windsor, he and Warwick were the only 
persons with whom they had any opportu- 
nity to negotiate. Warwick accordingly 
showed the Frenchmen that the king was 
governed by traitors, as he called them, quite 
opposed to the interests of France, and that 
they must concert measures of vengeance to- 
gether against him. 

At the same time he promised Clarence to 
make him king, or at least the real ruler of 
all England. Clarence willingly trusted him, 
and W arwick, after the French embassy had 
left, conspired with his brother, the Arch- 
bishop of York, to raise up insurrections in 
the north at a word from nim. A commo- 
tion accordingly broke oat in Yorkshire in 
June 1469, which is known as Robin of Redes- 
dale's insurrection, from the name assumed 
by its leader, Sir William Conyers. The in- 
surgents published manifestos everjnvhere, 
complaining of the too great influence exer- 
cised by the queen's relations. Warwick was 
then at Calais, of which he was still gover- 
nor. To him Clarence crossed the sea, and 
on 11 July the marriage between the duke 
and the earl's daughter was celebrated, while 
England was convulsed with a rebellion 
which might be called a renewal of civil war. 
The king went northwards to meet the in- 
surgents, and sent a message to his brother^ 
to Warwick, and to the archbishop to come 
to his aid. The new Earl of Pembroke, with 



Edward IV 



76 



Edward IV 



■a strong force levied in Wales, met the rebels 
at Edffecote, near Banbury, and was defeated, 
26 July, with great slaughter. He and his 
brother, Sir Richard Herbert, were taken 
prisoners and brought to Northampton, where 
they were beheadSd. The king himself was 
taken by the Archbishop of York near Co- 
Tentry , and brought first to the town of War- 
w^ick and afterwards to Middleham. Earl 
Rivers and his son, Sir John Woodville, were 
also taken by the rebels and put to death at 
Coventry. 

Clarence, Warwick, and the Archbishop 
of York had left Calais and come over to 
England on the king's summons. They is- 
sued a proclamation on 12 July, couched in 
the ordinary language of revolted subjects, 
as if their only object was to be a medium 
with the king to redress the grievances of 
his people. This pretence they found it still 
advisable to keep up, for the city of London 
was devoted to Edward's interests, and the 
Duke of Burgundy had written to the lord 
mayor to confirm their loyalty and promise 
aid if needful. Warwick, therefore, judged 
it best to release his prisoner, whom, indeed, 
he had not kept in very close confinement, 
allowing him freely to hunt, though with 
keepers beside him. He accordingly pro- 

E)sed to the king that he should go up to 
ondon, see the queen, his wife, and show 
himself to the people ; and he wrote to the 
Londoners that the king was going to pay 
them a visit, and that they should see there 
was no truth in the report that he had been 
made a prisoner. Edward was glad to con- 
done the past. He came up to London, and 
though he bade the Archbishop of York re- 
main behind till sent for at his palace of the 
Moor in Hertfordshire, he spoke not only of 
him but of Warwick and Clarence also as 
his very good friends. 

Warwick and Clarence received a general 
pardon before Christmas for all their past 
offences. Edward's confidence in his brother 
at least appears to have returned ; and it was 
confirmed when in the beginning of March 
1470, on the breaking out of a new insurrec- 
tion in Lincolnshire, Clarence sent to offer 
him his service and that of the Earl of War- 
wick to put it down. This new outbreak 
was a movement avowedly in behalf of King 
Henry, headed bv Sir Robert Welles, the 
•eldest son of Lord Welles ; it had been care- 
fully organised by Warwick and Clarence 
beforehand, and had been purposely deferred 
till they had left the king and retired into 
Warwickshire. They had now intimated to 
the rebels that they would come from the 
west and join them ; yet Edward was slow 
to believe their treason. Fortunately for him 



Warwick and Clarence failed to make good 
their promise when he came upon the insur- 
gents at Stamford and utterly routed them 
in the battle of Losecoat Field. Sir Robert 
Welles was put to death after the battle, 
and before he suffered made a full confession, 
by which it appeared that he was merely the 
instrument of Clarence and Warwick's per- 
fidy. 

On this revelation Edward summoned the 
duke and earl to come to him and clear them- 
selves, but they withdrew into Lancashire, 
endeavouring still to raise the north of Eng- 
land against the king. Edward could not 
pursue them through the barren country in- 
tervening, but pushed northwards to York, 
where several insurgent leaders came in and 
submitted to him ; then issued a proclama- 
tion dated 24 March allowing the duke and 
earl still four days to come to him and clear 
themselves. The four days expired, and Ed- 
ward, who finding Yorkshire submissive was 
now returning southwards, proclaimed them 
traitors at Nottingham on the 31st. They 
now prepared for flight, and, taking their 
wives along with them, embarked somewhere 
on the west coast for Calais, where they ex- 
pected to be secure. Edward had anticipated 
this movement, and had warned the Lord 
Wenlock, the earFs lieutenant there, not to 
let him enter the town ; and though he fired 
a few shots he found it was hopeless to force 
an entry, as the Duke of Burgundy, being 
notified of the situation, was coming to the 
rescue. Warwick then cruised about the 
channel and captured a number of vessels. 
In the end he and Clarence sailed to Nor- 
mandy and landed at Honfleur, where they 
left their vessels and repaired to the king of 
France at Angers. And here occurred one 
of the strangest negotiations in all history. 

Warwick, Clarence, Margaret of Anjou, 
and her son, Prince Edward, were all equally 
opposed to Edward IV, but they had been 
no less enemies to each other ; and Margaret 
particularly looked upon Warwick as the 
cause of all her misfortunes. Nevertheless 
Louis contrived to bring them together at 
Angers and reconcile them with a view to 
united action against their common enemy. 
In the end Margaret was not only induced 
to pardon Warwick, but to seal the matter 
with a compact for the marriage of her son 
to the earl s second daughter on condition 
that Warwick should in the first place in- 
! vade England and recover the kingdom for 
Henry VI. Assisted by Louis he and Cla- 
rence crossed the Channel (a convenient storm 
having dispersed the Burgundian fleet) and 
landed a force in the ports of Plymouth 
and Dartmouth shortly oefore Michaelmas. 



Edward IV 



77 



Edward IV 



Edward was then in Yorkshirey having been 
drawn thither to put down a new rebellion 
under Lord Fitzhugh, who fled to Scotland 
on his approach. He had heard of the pro- 
posed enterprise at York as early as 7 Sept., 
and the news of the accomplished landing 
reached him towards the ena of the month 
at Doncaster. But among those who raised 
troops, and no further off than Pomfret, was 
Warwick's brother Montague, whom he had 
created £^1 of Northumberland in 1464. 
This nobleman, notwithstanding his brother^s 
defection, had preserved his allegiance till 
now. But unfortunately Edward had lately 
persuaded him to resign the earldom of 
Northumberland in favour of the heir of the 
Percys, whose attainder he intended to re- 
verse, and had promoted him instead to the 
dignity of a marquis with his old title of 
Montague. This was really more of a burden 
than a compensation, seeing that, as he him- 
self said, tne king had given him but ' a 
pye's-nest to maintain his estate with.' So, 
naving raised six thousand men, as if for 
King Edward's service, and advanced to 
witmn six or seven miles of the king, he in- 
formed his followers that he had now changed 
masters, and a cry of ' King Henry ! ' rose 
from all his host. A faithful servant of Ed- 
ward's galloped in hot haste to warn him. 
He found him, by one account, in bed ; by 
another, sitting at dinner. The king had to 
fly. Accompanied by his brother Gloucester, 
his brother-in-law Rivers, his devoted friend 
and chamberlain Lord Hastings, and about 
eight hundred men, he escaped to Lynn, 
where they found shipping, 29 Sept., to con- 
vey them to HoUanoi. So precipitate had 
been their flight that they had no clothes 
except those they wore, and they landed at 
Alkmaar in a state of great destitution, after 
escaping some dangers at sea from the Easter- 
lings, who were then at war both with the 
English and the French. 

Louis de Bruges, Lord de la Grutuyse, who 
was governor ror the Duke of Burgundy in 
Holland, at once succoured them, and paid 
their expenses until he had conducted them 
to the Hague, where they arrived 11 Oct. 
He also sent on the news to the Duke of 
Burgundy, who, having in vain sent Edward 
repeated warnings beforehand of Warwick's 
projected invasion, would now, according to 
Commines, have been better pleased to hear 
of his death, for even to shelter Edward, 
imder present circumstances, exposed him to 
the resentment of an old enemy who had be- 
come all at once undisputed master of Eng- 
land. There were also refugees of the house 
of Lancaster at his court, and these strongly 
urged him not to give any succour to the 



exiled king. He visited Edward, however^ 
at Aire on 2 Jan. 1471, and the latter also 
came to his court at St. Pol ; but he pro- 
tested publicly he would give him no kind 
of assistance to recover his throne. 

Edward had even left behind him in Eng- 
land his wife and children. They seemed to 
be secure in the Tower of London when he 
went northwards, but Elizabeth, when sh& 
heard that he had escaped abroad, withdrew 
secretly with her children into the sanctuary 
at Westminster, where she gave birth to 
a son, afterwards Edward vT Meanwhil& 
Henry VI was released from prison and pro- 
claimed king once more. In a short time 
Mar^ret of Anjou and her son were expected 
to reioin him in England. The Duke of Bur- 
gundv, however, yielded privately to Ed- 
ward s entreaties, sent him underhand a sum 
of fifty thousand florins, and placed at hia 
disposal three or four great ships which he 
got ready for him at Veere in Holland, and 
secretly hired for him fourteen Easterling 
vessels besides to transport him into England. 

He accordingly embarked at Flushing on 
2 March 1471 with his brother Gloucester^ 
Earl Rivers, and some twelve thousand fight- 
ing men. Kept back for some days by con- 
trary winds, he arrived before Cromer in Nor- 
folk 12 March, where he caused Sir Robert 
Chamberlain, Sir Gilbert Debenham, and 
others to land and ascertain how the people 
of those parts were affected towards his re- 
turn. Finding that the district was quite 
under the power of Warwick and the Earl 
of Oxford, he sailed further north, and during 
the next two days met with violent storma 
which compelled the whole expedition to 
land in different places near the Humbcr. 
He himself landea 14 March at Ravenspur^ 
the spot, now swallowed up by the North Sea, 
where Henry IV had landed before him. His 
brother disembarked four miles and Rivera 
fourteen miles from him, but they and all 
their companies met next day. The people- 
declined at first to join him, and musters were 
made in some places to resist him ; but fol- 
lowing once more the precedent of Henry IV^ 
he gave out that he only came to claim his 
dukedom of York, and not the crown. He 
even caused his men to cry ' King Henry 
and Prince Edward 1 ' as they passed along, 
making them wear the prince's badge of the 
ostrich feather, and exhibited a letter from 
Percy, the restored Earl of Northumberland, 
who, grateful for his restoration, seems 
heartily to have entered into the scheme, to 
indicate that he came upon summons. 

On consultation with his friends it was 
determined first to go to York, where he ar- 
rived on the 18th. The recorder, Thomas 



Edward IV 78 Edward IV 

Conyers, met him three miles from the city men issued one day three miles out of War- 
and endeavoured to dissuade him from at- ; wick, on the road to Banhury, and saw his 
tempting to enter it. But as Conyers was hrother Clarence advancing to meet him at 
suspected to be no sympathiser he went on the head of a company of soldiers. When 
and had a friendly reception. Next day he the two hosts stooa fSftce to face within half 
and his company went to Tadcaster, ' a town a mile of each other, Edward, accompanied 
of the Earl of xCorthumberland*s/ ten miles by his brother Gloucester, Rivers, Hastings, 
fiouth of York, from which they proceeded to and a few others, advanced towards the op- 
Wakefield and his father's seat at Sandal, posite lines, while Clarence, likewise with a 
The Marquis Montague, who lay in Pomfret • select company, came out to meet him. A 
Castle, seems to have thought it prudent personal reconciliation took place, and then 
not to molest his passage, and the influence the two armies joined and went together 
of the Earl of Northumberland prevented to Warwick. Clarence then made some ef- 
men from stirring, although the earl himself forts, but without success, to get Warwick 
forbore to take open part with him. Few also to come to terms with his brother. The 
men, however, actuallyjoined him, even about earl had gone too far to recede; and he was 
Wakefield, where his father's influence was now joined by the Duke of Exeter, the Mar- 
greatest, till he had passed Doneaster and quis Montague, the Earl of Oxford, and hosta 
come to Nottingham. Here Sir William Parr , of foUowers. Edward accordingly removed 
and Sir James Ilarington came to him with I from Warwick towards London on Friday, 
two good bands of men to the number of six 5 April ; spent the Saturday and Sunday 
hundred. Here also, being informed that (which was Palm Sunday) at Daventry, 
the Duke of Exeter, the Earl of Oxford, and where he duly attended the services of the 
others had gathered their forces at Newark, day, and a very encouraging miracle was 
he turned to meet them, but they fled. He said to have been witnessed as he knelt be- 
pursued his journey southwards to Leicester, fore an image of St. Anne ; and from that 
where his friend Lord Hastings's influence went to Northampton. The Duke of Somer- 
brought an accession to his forces of three set, the Earl of Devonshire, and others of 
thousand men. his opponents had left London for the west, 

Here the Earl of Warwick could have at- , where Margaret and her son were expected 
tacked him, but he was noAv in the midst of | to land, to strengthen them on their arrival, 
friends, and people could not be raised against He arrived in London on Thursday, 11 April, 
him in sufficient numbers. The earl was also his cause being so dear to the citizens — 
dissuaded by a letter from the Duke of Cla- I partly from the debts he had left behind 
rence, whose counsel under the circumstances j nim, partly, it is said, from the attentions 
seemed only prudent. So he retired and shut he had paid to the citizens' wives — ^that he 



could not be kept out, and the Archbishop 
of York, who, perceiving this beforehand, 
had sued to be admitted into favour, delivered 



himself up in Coventry, whither he was pur- 
sued, 29 March, by Edward, who for three 
days challenged him to come out and decide ; 

the quarrel with him in the open field. As j himself and King Henry into his hands. H© 
the earl did not accept the invitation, Edward \ took his queen out of the sanctuary at West- 
went on to the town of Warwick, where he | minster to his mother's palace of Baynard's 
was received as king, and issued proclama- ! Castle, and spent Good Friday in London ; 
tions as such. He also offered tne earl a but next day, 13 April, soon after noon, he 
free pardon if he would submit, but this was . marched out with his army to Bamet to meet 
not accepted either. He had better hopes, , the Earl of Warwick, who, with Exeter, 



however, of winning over his brother Clarence, 
who had secretly promised him when they were 
both in exile that he would desert Warwick 
and come to his support on his return to Eng- 
land. A lady passing into France from the 
Duke of Burgundy had carried letters to the 



Montague, and Oxford, were now coming 
up rather lute to contest possession of the 
capital. 

Edward took King Henry along with him 
to the field. He that evening occupied the 
town of Bamet, from which his foreriders 



Duchess of Clarence as if to promote a gene- : had expelled those of the Earl of Warwick 
ral agreement between France, Burgundy, | before lie came, and driven them half a mile 



and the house of Lancaster, but having gained 
access thereby, not merely to the Duchess 
but to the Duke of Clarence, she pointed out 
to him that the course he was then pursuing, 
besides being ruinous to his family, was ut- 
terly against his own interests. 

Edward accordingly with seyen thousand 



further, where the earFs main body was drawn 
up under a hedge. Edward, coming after, 
placed his men in position nearly opposite to 
them, but a little to one side. It was by this 
time dark, and his true position was not im- 
derstood by the enemy, who continued firing 
during the night at vacancy. Day broke 



Edward IV 



79 



Edward IV 



next morning between four and five, but a 
dense mist still obscured matters, and while 
Edward's forces, being greatly outflanked to 
the left by those of Warwick, began to give 
way, they had an almost equal advantage 
over their opponents at the opposite or eastern 
end ; and wtdle fugitives from the western 
part of the field carried to London the news 
that the day was lost for Edward, the combat 
was still maintained with varying fortunes 
for three hours or more. Owing to the fog 
Warwick's men fired upon those of the Ean 
of Oxford, whose badge, a star with streams, 
WBS mistaken for ' the sun of York,' and Ox- 
ford with his company fled the field, crying 
* Treason I ' as they went. At length, after 
great slaughter on both sides, Edward was 
completely triumphant, and Warwick and 
Montague lay deaa upon the field. The Earl 
of Oxford escaped to Scotland. 

Next day Edward caused the bodies of 
Warwick and his brother to be brought to 
London and exhibited at St. Paul's. lie had 
little leisure to rest in London, for news 
arrived on Tuesday the 16th of the landing 
of Margaret and her son at Weymouth ; 
and, after arranging for the sick and wounded 
who had been with him at Bamet, he 
left on Friday the 19th, first for Windsor, 
where he duly kept the feast of St. George, 
and afterwards to Abingdon, which ne 
reached on the 27th. Uncertain of the 
enemy's motions he was anxious to inter- 
cept them either on the road to London, if 
they attempted to march thither direct, or 
near the southern seacoast if they came that 
way, or passing northwards by the borders 
of Wales. At length he fought with them 
at Tewkesbury on 4 May and was completely 
victorious. Margaret was taken prisoner, her 
son slain, or more probably murdered after 
the battle ; and Edward further stained his 
laurels by a gross act of perfidy in beheading 
two days later the Duke of Somerset and 
fourteen other persons who had sought refuge 
in the abbey of Tewkesbury, and been deli- 
vered up to him on the assurance of their 
lives bemg spared. 

The news of the victory at once sufficed 
to quiet an insurrection that was on the 
point of breaking out in the north ; to sup- 
press which, however, Edward had scarcely 
gone as far as Coventry when he heard of a 
much more formidable movement in the 
south. For Calais being still under the go- 
vernment of Warwick's deputies, they had 
sent over to England a naved captain named 
the Bastard Faiconbridge [q. v.], who after 
overawing Canterbury endeavoured to force 
an entrance into London, 5 May. Foiled in 
this attempt the Bastard withdrew westward 



to Kingston-upon-Thames, intending to have 
oflered battle to King Edward in the centre 
of the kingdom, for he had a strong force 
with him, reckoned at twenty thousand men, 
which grew as he advanced, while most of 
Edward's followers had dispersed after the 
victory of Tewkesbury. But Scales managed 
to prevail on one of his adherents, Nicholas 
Faunt, mayor of Canterbury, to urge him to 
return to ^lackheath, from which place he 
stole away with only six hundred horsemen 
out of his army by Kochester to Sandwich, 
where he stood simply on the defensive. 

Edward in the meantime was issuing com- 
missions and raising men in the different 
counties, so that he arrived in London, 21 May, 
at the head of thirty thousand men. On the 
night of his arrival Henry VI died — of a 
broken heart as Edward's mends pretended. 
Next day Edward knighted no less than 
twelve aldermen of London for the good ser- 
vice they had done him, and the day follow- 
ing (Ascension day) he marched forward 
into Kent. Coming to Canterbury he caused 
Nicholas Faunt to be brought thither from 
the Tower and hanged, drawn, and quartered. 
Some other adherents of the Bastard were 
also put to death. Commissions were also 
issuea for Kent, Sussex, and Essex to levy 
fines on those who had gone with him to 
Blackheath, and many who were not really 
there were made to pay exorbitantly, some 
unfortunate men having to sell their spare 
clothing and borrow money before they were 
admitted to mercy. On 26 May Edward 
and his army reached Sandwich, where the 
Bastard surrendered the town and all his 
navy, amounting to forty-three vessels. 

Edward had now triumphed so decisively 
over his enemies that the rest of his reign 
was passed in comparative tranc^uillity. The 
direct line of Lancaster was extinct, and the 
family of John of Gaunt was represented 
only by Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, 
whose ancestors, the Beauforts, were of doubt- 
ful legitimacy. Henry's uncle, the Earl of 
Pembroke, finding no safety in Wales, took 
him over sea, meaning to go to France, but 
they were forced to land in Brittany, where 
Duke Francis II detained them in a kind of 
honourable confinement, refusing more than 
one application from King Edward to deliver 
them up to him, but promising that they 
should not escape to do him injury. Yet it 
could only have been on behalf of Kichmond 
that the Earl of Oxford sought unsuccessfully 
to invade the kingdom in 1473. He landed 
first at St. Osyth in Essex, 28 May, but made 
a speedy retreat on hearing that the Earl 
of Essex was coming to meet him. Then 
on 30 Sept. he took St. Michael's Mount in 



Edward IV 



80 



Edward IV 



Cornwall by surprise, but was immediately 
besieged there ana surrendered in the foUow- 
ingFebruary. 

The king began to revive the project of an 
invasion 01 France, to be undertaken in con- 
cert with his ally the Duke of Burgundy. 
In 1472, before the Earl of Oxford's attempt, 
parliament had voted a levy of thirteen 
thousand archers for the defence of the king- 
dom against external enemies, and of a tenth 
to pay expenses ; and the grant, which had 
not yet been fully put in force, was renewed 
and increased in 1474 with a view to the 
proposed expedition. The taxation was se- 
verely felt, yet it was not sufficient to war- 
rant the enterprise without additional aid, 
and to make up the deficiency Edward had 
recourse to a new and unprecedented kind of 
impost, by which, as the eontinuator of the 
* Croyland Chronicle ' remarks, * every one 
was to give just what he pleased, or rather 
what he did not please, by way of benevolence.' 
Edward himself did not disdain to levy sums 
in this way by personal solicitation, and in 
some cases, it would seem, the money was 
really granted with goodwill. An amusing 
instance is recorded by Hall the chronicler 
of a rich widow who on personal solicitation 
promised the king what was then the large 
sum of 20/., and on Edward showing his 
gratitude by a kiss immediately doubled the 
contribution. 

Extraordinary contributions seemed neces- 
sary for the object in view. When all was 
ready Edward crossed to Calais at the head 
of a splendid army, consisting of fifteen 
hundred men-at-arms, fifteen thousand ar- 
chers on horseback, and a large body of foot, 
another expedition being arranged to land at 
the same time in Brittany to strengthen the 
Duke of Brittany against an attack from 
France. Before embarking at Dover Edward 
sent Louis a letter of defiance in the approved 
style of chivalry, so elegantly and politely 
penned that Commines could hardly believe 
an Englishman wrote it. He called upon 
Louis to surrender the kingdom of France to 
him as rightful owner, that he might relieve 
the churcn and the people from the oppres- 
sion under which they groaned; otherwise 
all the miseries of war would lie at his door. 
Louis having read the letter called in the 
herald who brought it, and told him he 
was sure his master had no wish to invade 
France on his own account, but had merely 
done so to satisfy his own subjects anil 
the Duke of Burgundy ; that the latter could 
give little aid, as he had wasted time and 
strength over the siege of Neuss, and the 
summer was alreadvfar spent; and that Ed- 
ward would do well to listen to some accom- 



modation, which the herald might have it in 
his power to promote. The artifice was suc- 
cessful. The herald, indeed, told Louis that 
no proposal could be listened to until the 
whole army had landed in France, and so 
great was the force that it took three weeks 
to convey them across the straits of Dover. 
But the French king when the herald left 
; him had already some reason to believe that 
he had by his policy taken the heart out of 
the expedition. The progress of events rather 
tended to confirm the suspicion he had sown 
in English minds that they were fighting for 
the Duke of Burgundy's interests more than 
for their own ; for after Edward's landings 
the duke came to meet him, not at the head 
of an army but merely with a personal escort, 
and only stayed with him a very short time, 
feeling himself called away to defend Luxem- 
burg. Nor were the English better pleased 
when the perfidious constable of St. Pol, a 
professed ally of Burgundy, but an intriguer 
who had betrayed aU sides in turn, opene<l 
fire upon them from St. Qaentin. They 
could not understand the people they had 
come among, and wondered ii Burgundy had 
any army at all. 

In this state of matters Louis sent to the 
English camp an irregular messenger dressed 
like a herald, who urged the case for peace 
with wonderful astuteness ; and it was not 
long before commissioners to treat were ap- 
pointed on both sides. A seven years' treaty 
was arranged, with stipulation for a pension 
of seventy-five thousand crowns to be paid 
by Louis during the joint lives of the two 
kings, and a contract for the marriage of 
the dauphin to Edward's eldest daughter, 
Elizabeth, as soon as the parties should be 
of suitable age. The peace was ratified at a 
personal interview of the two kin^ at Pic- 
quigny on 29 Aug., and the invading army 
soon returned home without having struck 
a blow. It was not a very noble conclusion, 
for Edward really broke faith with his ally 
the Duke of Burgundy, and several of hia 
council, including his own brother Glouces- 
ter, absented themselves from the interview 
in consequence. The French king, however, 
was highly pleased, and to allay the preju- 
dices of Edward's councillors gave them 
handsome presents before they left France 
and pensions afterwards. 

whatever may be said of Edward's con- 
duct towards Burgundy, he was more faithful 
on this occasion towards another ally whom 
Louis vainly endeavoured to induce him to 
desert. This was the Duke of Brittany, in 
whose territory the Earl of Eichmond had 
found an asylum, and who it seems, in grati- 
tude to Edwardy was on the point of deliver* 



Edward IV 



8i 



Edward IV 



ing the furtive up to him not long after- 
wudsy bat that he was dissuaded at the last 
moment. 

Not long after this the Duke of Burgundy 
met his fate at the battle of Nanci, 5 Jan. 

1477, leaving an only daughter, Mary, as his 
heiress. The Duke of Clarence, who was now 
a widower, aspired to her hand in marriaf^, 
and thereby reyived the old jealousy of his 
brother Edward, who took care to prevent 
the match. This with other circumstances 
inflamed the duke's indignation, and his con- 
duct ^ve so much offence that Edward first 
had him sent to the Tower, and then accused 
him before parliament in the beginning of 

1478. The scene is recorded by a contem- 
porary with an expression of horror. *No 
one,' says the writer, 'argued against the 
duke except the king, no one made answer 
to the king except the duke.' Sentence was 
formally pronounced against him, but the 
execution was for some time delayed, till the 
speaker made request in the name of the 
commons that it should take effect. The 
king complied ; but, to avoid the disgrace 
of a public execution, ordered it to be done 
secretly within the Tower, and it was re- 
ported that Clarence was drowned in a butt 
of malmsey. 

It was noted that his removal placed the 
whole kingdom more entirely at Edward*s 
command than it had been beiore. No other 
member of the council was so popular or in- 
fluential ; and no one now could advocate a 
policy opposed to the king*s personal will. 
Yet the memory of what he had done em- 
bittered Edward's after years, insomuch that 
when solicited for the pardon of an offender 
he would sometimes say, 'O unfortunate 
brother, for whose life not one creature would 
make intercession ! ' 

One result of this greater absolutism was 
that the law officers of the crown became 
severe in searching out penal offences, by 
which wealthy gentlemen and nobles were 
harassed by prosecutions, and the king's trea- 
sure increased by fines. But these practices 
were not long continued. Edward was now 
wealthy, corpulent, and fond of ease, and he 
loved popularity too well to endanger it by 
persistent oppression. Another matter in 
which he was allowed to have his own way 
doubtless alarmed many of his subjects long 
before he found reason to repent tne course 
he had taken himself. His whole foreign 
policy had undenrone a change at the treaty 
of Pioquigny when he accepted a French 
alliance instead of a Burgundian ; and when, 
after the death of Charles the Bold, Louis XI 
overran Burgundy and Picardy, depriving the 
young duchees Mary of her inheritance, she 

VOL. xyii. 



appealed in vain to Edward for assistance. 
Not to listen to such an appeal was little 
short of infatuation, for the success of France 
imperilled English commerce with the Low 
Countries. But Edward was more afraid of 
losing the French pension and the stipulated 
mamage of his daughter to the dauphin, and 
he was base enough even to offer to take 
part with Louis if the latter would share 
with him his conquests on the Somme. Ilis 
queen, on the other hand, would have en- 
gaged him the other way if the council of 
Flanders would have allowed the marriage 
of Mary to her brother Anthony, earl Rivers ; 
but the match was considered too uneqiial 
in point of rank, and the young lady, for ner 
own protection, was driven to marry Maxi- 
milian of Austria. 

The French pension was for some years 
punctually paid, but Louis still delayed send- 
ing for the Princess Elizabeth to be married to 
his son, alleging as his excuse the war in Bur- 
gundy, and sending such honourable embas- 
sies that Edward's suspicions were completely 
lulled to sleep. A like spirit showed itself in 
Edward's relations with Scotland, with which 
country he had made peace in 1474, marry- 
ing his second daughter, Cecily, by proxy, 
to the eldest son of James Ill^and had since 
paid three instalments of her stipulated dowry 
of twenty thousand marks. But misunder- 
standings gradually grew up, secretly en- 
couraged by France. A Scotch invasion was 
anticipated as early as May 1480 (Rymer, xii. 
116), and the Scotch actually overran the bor- 
ders not long after (* Chronicle* cited in PiN- 
KERTON, i. 503). James excused the aggres- 
sion as made without his consent ; but Edward 
made alliances against him with the Lord of 
the Isles and other Scotch nobles (Rymeb, 
xii. 140), and a secret treaty with his brother 
Albany, whom he recognised as rightful king 
of Scotland, on the pretence that James was 
illegitimate (ib. 156). This Albany had been 
imprisoned by James in Scotland, and had 
escaped to France, but was now under Ed- 
wara's protection in England; and he en- 
gaged, on being placed on the throne of 
Scotland, to restore Berwick to the English 
and abandon the old French alliance. In 
return for these services Edward promised 
him the hand of that princess whom he had 
already given to the Scotch king's heir-ap- 
parent, provided Albany on his part could 
* make himself clear from all other women.' 

An expedition against Scotland, for the 
equipment of which benevolences had been 
again resorted to, was at length set on foot 
in May 1482. It was placed under the com- 
mand of Richard, duice of Gloucester, and 
Albany went with it. Berwick was besieged, 

o 



Edward IV 



82 



Edward V 



and the town soon surrendered, though the 
castle still held out. The invasion was made 
easier by the revolt of the Scotch nobles, 
who hanged James's favourite ministers, shut 
up James himself in Edinburgh Castle, con- 
cluded a treaty with Gloucester and Albany, 
and bound the town of Edinburgh to repay 
Edward the money advanced by him for the 
Princess Cecily's dower, the marriage being 
now annulled. Nothing, however, was said 
about Albany's pretensions to the crown, 
and the Scotch lords undertook to procure 
his pardon. The invading army withdrew 
to tne borders, and the campaign ended by 
the capitulation of Berwick Castle on 24 Aug. 

Scarcely, however, had the difference witn 
Scotland been arranged, when the full extent 
of the French king's perfidy was made mani- 
fest. The Duchess Mary of Burgundy was 
imexpectedly killed by a fall from her horse 
in March 1482, leaving: behind her two young 
children, Philip and M argaret, of whom the 
former was heir to the duchy. Their father, 
Maximilian, being entirely dependent for 
money on the Flemings, who were not his 
natural subjects, was unable to exercise any 
authority as their guardian. The men of 
Ghent, supported by France, controlled every- 
thing, and compelled him to conclude with 
Louis the treaty of Arras (23 Dec. 1482), by 
which it was arranged that Margaret should 
be married to the dauphin, and have as her 
dower the county of Artois and some of the 
best lands in Burgundy taken from the in- 
heritance of her brother Philip. Thus the 
compact for the marriage of the dauphin to 
Edward's daughter was boldly violated, with 
a view to a future annexation of provinces to 
the crown of France. 

It was remarked that Edward kept his 
Christmas that year at Westminster with 
particular magnificence. But the news of 
the treaty of Arras sank deep into his heart. 
He thought of vengeance, and called parlia- 
ment together in January 1483 to obtain 
further supplies. A tenth and a fifteenth 
were votea oy the commons, not as if for an 
aggressive war, but expressly * for the hasty 
and necessary defence of the kingdom. The 
clergy also were called on for a contribution. 
But while occupied with these thoughts he 
was visited by illness, which in a short time 
proved fatal. He died on 9 April 1483, as 
French writers believed, of mortification at 
the treaty of Arras. 

Commines speaks of Edward IV as the 
most handsome prince he ever saw, and simi- 
lar testimony is given by others to his per- 
sonal appearance. When his coffin was 
opened at Windsor in 1789 his skeleton mea- 
sured no less than six feet three inches in 



length. Although latterly he had grown 
somewhat corpulent, his good looks had not 
deserted him, and his ingratiating manners 
contributed to render him highly popular. The 

ffood fortune which attended him tnroughout 
ife may have been partly owing to this 
cause as well as to his undoubted valour, 
for though he never lost a battle, nothing is 
more astounding than his imprudence and 
the easy confidence with which he trusted 
Somerset, Warwick, Montague, and others, 
all the while they were betraying him. Care- 
less and self-indulgent, he allowed dangers 
to accumulate; but whenever it came to 
action he was firm and decisive. His fami- 
liarity with the wives of London citizens was 
the subject of much comment, and so were 
his exactions, whether in the shape of par- 
liamentary taxations, benevolences, or debase- 
ment of the currency, to which last device 
he had recourse in 1464. His queen, Eliza- 
beth Woodville, bore him ten children, of 
whom only seven survived him, two of them 
being sons and five daughters. 

[English Chronicle, ed. Davies (Camden Soc.) ; 
Wilhelmi Wyrcester Annales; Venetian Cal. 
vol. i. ; Paston Letters; Hist. Croylandensis Con- 
tinuatio in Fulman's Scriptores; Warkworth's 
Chronicle ; Collections of a London Citizen ; 
Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles ; History of 
the Arrival of Edward IV (the last four pub- 
lished by the Camden Soc.); Leland's Collec- 
tanea (ed. 1774), ii. 497-509 ; Fragment, printed 
by Heame. at end of T. Sprotti Chronica (1719) ; 
Jeban do Wavrin, Anchiennes Croniques, ed. Du- 
pont; Ezcerpta Historica, 282-4; Commines; 
Polydore Vergil; Hall's Chronicle; Fabyan's 
Chronicle. Besides these sources of information, 
Habington's History of Edward IV (1640) may 
be referred to with advantage.] J. G. 

EDWARD V (1470-1483), king of Eng- 
land, eldest son of Edward IV by his (]^ueen, 
Elizabeth Woodville [q. v.], was born m the 
Sanctuary at Westminster on 2 or 3 Nov. 
1470, at the time when his father was 
driven out of his kingdom (see Gentleman's 
Magazine for January 1831, p. 24). He was 
baptised without ceremony m that place of 
refuge, the abbot and prior being his god- 
fathers and Lady Scrope his godmother. On 
26 June 1471 his father, having recovered 
the throne, created him Prince of Wales 
{Bolls of Pari, vi. 9), and on 3 July following 
compelled the lords in parliament to acknow- 
ledge him as undoubted heir of the kingdom, 
swearing that they would take him as king 
if he survived himself (Rtm er, xi. 714). The 
slaughter of another Edward prince of Wales, 
the son of Henry VI, at Tewkesbury just two 
months before, had cleared the way for this 
creation. Five days later, on 8 July, King 



Edward V 



83 



Edward V 



Edward appointed by patent a council for 
the young prince, consistincf of his mother 
the queen, tne Archbishop of Canterbury, his 
two paternal uncles, the Bukes of Clarence 
and Gloucester, his maternal uncle, Earl 
Rirers, with certain bishops and others, to 
have the control of his education and the rule 
of his household and lands till he should reach 
the age of fourteen. On 17 July he received 
form^ grants, which were afterwards con- 
firmed by parliament, of the principality of 
Wales, the counties palatine of Chester and 
Flint, and the duchy of Cornwall (Rolls of 
Pari, vi. 9-16). Next year, at the creation 
of Louis Sieur de la Ghrutuy8e,as Earl of Win- 
chester, he was carried to Whitehall and 
thence to Westminster in the arms of Thomas 
Vaughan, who was afterwards appointed his 
chamberlain and made a knight (Arclueolof/ia, 
xxvi. 277). In 1473 several important docu- 
menta occur relating to him. First, on 20 Feb. 
a business council was appointed for the affairs 
of the principality (Pafwififo//, 12 Edw. IV, . 
pt. 2, m. 21). Then on 23 Sept. the king 
drew up a set of ordinances alike for the * vir- 
tuous guiding* of the young child and for the , 
good rule of nis household, in which a more I 
special charge was given to Earl Rivers \ 
and to John Alcock Tq. v.] (who was now 
become bishop of Rochester) than in the ap- 
pointment of 1471. (See these ordinances, 
printed in the Collection of Ordinances for 
the Htmsehold, published by the Society of 
Antiquaries 1790, pp. [^27] sq.) On 10 Nov. 
Bbhop Alcock was appointed the young 
princ&s schoolmaster and president of his 
council, while Earl Rivers on the same day 
was appointed his governor (Patent Polly 

13 Edw. IV, pt. 1, m. 3, and pt. 2, m. 15). 
It is clear that as Prince of W ales, although 

only in his third year, he had already been 
sent down into that country to keep court 
there with his mother the queen; for on 
2 April Sir John Paston writes t o his brother : 
' Men say the aueen with the prince shall 
come out of Wales and keep this Eaater with 
the king at Leicester' — a report which he 
adds was disbelieved by others. On July 
1474 a patent was granted to him enabling 
him to g^ve liveries to his retainers (t6. 

14 Edw. rV, pt. 1, m. 13). In 1475, when 
he was only m his fifth year, the king his 
father*on 20 June, just before crossing the 
Channel to invade France, appointed him his 
lieutenant and jofuardian (custos) of the king- 
dom during his absence, with full powers 
under four different commissions to discharge 
the functions of royalty (Rtmek, xii. 13, 14). 
That same day Kin^ Edward made his will 
at Sandwich, chargmg the property of his 
heir with Tarious charitable bequests, and ap- 



point ing marriage portions for his daughters 
on condition that they should be governed 
in their choice of husbands by Queen Eliza- 
beth Woodville and her son the prince {Ex- 
cerpta Historical pp. 366-79). 

On 2 Jan. 1476 he was appointed justiciar 
of Wales (Patent Poll, 15 Edw. IV, pt. 3, 
m. 4 in dorso), and on 29 Dec. power was 
given him (of course to be exercised by his 
council) to appoint other justices in the prin- 
cipality and the marches (ib, 10 Edw. IV, 
pt. 2, m. 22). On 1 Dec. 1477 he received a 
grant of the castles and lordships of Wig- 
more, Presteign, Narberth, Radnor, and a 
number of other places in Wales, to which 
was added a grant of the manor of Elvell on 
9 March 1478, and of Uske and Caerleon on 
26 Feb. 1483 (ib. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 24, 
18 Edw. IV, pt. 1, m. 18, and 22-23 Edw. IV, 
pt. 2, m. 11). 

He was only in his thirteenth year when 
his father died, 9 April 1483, and he became 
king. His short troubled reign was merely 
a struggle for power between his maternal 
relations, the Woodvilles, and his uncle Ri- 
chard, duke of Gloucester, to whom the care 
of his person and kingdom seems to have 
been bequeathed in the last will of his father. 
When his uncle Rivers and his half-brother. 
Lord Richard Grey , were conducting him up to 
London for his coronation, which his mother 
had persuaded the council to appoint for so 
early a date as 4 May, they were overtaken 
at Northampton by Gloucester and Bucking- 
ham, or rather, leaving the king at Stony 
Stratford, they rode bawj to Northampton to 
meet those two noblemen on 29 April, and 
found next morning that they were made pri- 
soners. Probably there would have been a 
pitched battle, but that the council in London 
nad strongly resisted a proposal of the queen 
dowager that the young king should come up 
with a very large escort. As it was, a good 
deal of armour was found in the baggage of 
the royal suite, which, taken in connection 
with some other things, did not speak well 
for the intentions of the Woodville party. 
At least popular feeling seems rather to have 
been witn the Duke of Gloucester when he 
sent Rivers and Grey to prison at Pomfret, 
and conducted his young nephew to London 
with every demonstration ot loyal and sub- 
missive regard. . 

It was on 4 May — the very day fixed by 
the council for his coronation — that Edward 
thus entered the capital. His mother mean- 
while had thrown herself into the Sanctuary 
at Westminster. It was determined that he 
himself should take up his abode in the Tower, 
and while the day ot his coronation was de- 
ferred at first only to 22 June, a parliament 

02 



Edward V 



84 



Edward VI 



was summoned for the 26th of the same 
month, ostensibly with a view to continue 
his uncle Gloucester in the office of protector. 
But Gloucester 8 real design was to dethrone 
him ; and as he found that in this matter not 
even Hastings would support him, he caused 
that nobleman suddenly to be arrested at the 
council table and beheaded within the Tower 
on 13 June. A secret plot suddenly disco- 
vered was alleged to justify the act ; terror 
reigned everywhere, and Westminster was 
full of armed men. On the 16th the pro- 
tector induced a deputation of the council, 
headed by Cardinal Bourchier, to visit the 
queen in the Sanctuary and persuade her to 
give up her second son, the Duke of York, 
to keep company with his brother in the 
Tower. She yielded, apparently seeing that 
otherwise she would be compelled, for it had 
actually been decided to use force if necessary. 
The coronation was now again deferred till 
2 Nov., as if nothing but unavoidable acci- 
dents had interfered with it. But on Sunday, 
22 June, a sermon was preached at Paul's 
Cross by one Dr. Shaw, brother of the lord 
mayor, on the text * Bastard slips shall not 
take deep root' (Wisdom iv. 3), in which the 
validity of the late king's marriage was im- 
pugned, and his children declared illegiti- 
mate, 80 that, as the preacher maintained, 
Richard, duke of Gloucester, was the right- 
ful sovereiprn. The result, however, was only 
to fill the listeners with shame and indigna- 
tion. A no less ineffectual appeal was made to 
the citizens the next Tuesday at the Guildhall, 
when Buckingham made an eloquent speech 
in support of Richard's claim to the throne. 
But on the following day, 25 June, on which 
parliament liad been summoned to meet, and 
when there actually did meet an assembly of 
lords and commons, though apparently not a 
true parliament, a roll was bronprht in setting 
forth the invalidity of Edward IV's marriage 
with Elizabeth Woodville, the evils which 
had arisen from it, and the right of the Duke 
of Gloucester to the crown. A deputation of 
the lords and commons, joined by the mayor 
and chief citizens of Jjondon, then waited on 
Richard at Baynard's Castle, and persuaded 
him with feigneil reluctance to assume the 
royal dignity. The brief reign of Edward V 
was thus at an end, and it is tolerably certain 
that his life was cut short soon after. But 
the precise time that he and his brother were 
muMered is unknown. The fact was not 
divulged till a pretty widespread movement 
had w>en organised for their liberation from 
captivity. Then it transpired that they had 
been cut off by violence, and the world at 
large was horrorstruck, while some, half in- 
credulous, suspected that they had been only 



sent abroad. But conviction deepened as 
time went on, and many years afterwards the 
details of the story were collected by Sir 
Thomas More from sources which he beheved 
entirely credible. 

From this account it would appear that 
Richard III, when shortly after his corona- 
tion he set out on a progress, despatched a 
messenger named John Green to Sir Robert 
Brackenbury, constable of the Tower, re- 
quiring him to put the two princes to death. 
Brackenbury refused, and Richard soon after 
sent Sir James Tyrell to London with a war- 
rant to Brackenbury to deliver up the keys 
of the fortress to him for one night. Tyrell 
accordingly obtained possession of the place, 
and his groom, John Dighton, by the help of 
Miles Forest, one of four gaolers who had 
charge of the young princes, obtained en- 
trance into their chamber while they were 
asleep. Forest and Dighton then smothered 
them under pillows, and, after calling Sir 
James to view the bodies, buried them at the 
foot of a staircase, from which place, as More 
supposed, they were afterwards secretly re- 
moved. 

From the details given by More the murder 
could only have taken place, at the earliest, 
in the latter part of August, as Green found 
Richard at Warwick on returning to him 
with the news of Brackenbury's refusal ; but 
it may have been some weeks later. The 
doubts which Horace Walpole endeavoured 
to throw upon the fact have not been seri- 
ously entertained by any critic, and in the 
fuller light of more recent criticism are even 
less probable than before. Although it would 
be too much to say that the two bodies dis- 
covered in the Tower in the days of Charles II, 
and buried in Westminster Abbey, were un- 
questionably those of the two princes, there 
certainly is a strong probability in favour of 
their genuineness, not only from the apparent 
ages of the skeletons, but also from the posi- 
tion in which they were found — at the foot 
of a staircase in the White Tower — which 
seems to show that Sir Thomas More*s in 
formation was correct as to the sort of place 
where they were bestowed, though his surmise 
was wTong as to their subsequent removaL 

[Fabyan's Chronicle ; Polydore Vergil ; Hall's 
Chroniclo ; Hist Croylandensis Contin. in Ful- 
man's Scriptores; Excerpta Historica, r4, 16; 
Jo. Rossi Historia Rpgum, ed. Heame ; Moro's 
Hist, of Richard ni.] J. G. 

EDWARD VI (15^-1 553y king of 
England, was son of Henry VIII cry his third 
wife, Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir John 
Seymour of Wolf Hall, Savemake, Wiltdiire. 
His father married 19 May 1536| and the son 



Edward VI 



^5 



Edward VI 



was bom at Hampton Court 12 Oct. 1637. A 
letter under the queen's signet announced 
the event to ' the lord privy seal ' on the same 
day. The christening took place in the 
chapel at Hampton Court on 16 Oct. Prin- 
oess Mary was godmother, and Archbishop 
Cnuimer and the Duke of Norfolk godfathers. 
The Marchioness of Exeter carried the infant 
in her arms during the ceremony. On 19 Oct. 
Hugh Latimer sent the minister Cromwell a 
characteristic letter, entreating that the child 
should be brought up in the protestant faith. 
Queen Jane Seymour died on 24 Oct., and the 
despatch sent to foreign courts to announce her 
death dwelt on the fiourishiug health of the 
prince. In his first year Holbein painted his 
portrait and that of his wet nurse, * Mother 
lak.^ As early as March 1539 a separate house- 
hold was established for the boy. Sir William 
Sidney became chamberlain, and Sir John 
Comwallis steward. There were also ap- 
pointed a comptroller, vice-chamberlain, al- 
moner, dean, laay-mistress, nurse, and rockers. 
Lady Bryan, who had brought up both the 
Princesses Mary and Elizabetl), received the 
office of lady-mistress, and Sybil Penne, sister 
of Sir William Sidney's wife, was nominated 
chief nurse in October 1638. George Owen 
was the prince's physician from the first. The 
royal nursery was stationary for the most part 
at Hampton Court, where the Princess Mary 

?aid many visits to her little stepbrother in 
637 and 1538. The lords of the council were 
granted a first audience in September 1638, 
while Edward was at Havering-atte-Bower, 
Essex. In February 1538-9 the French am- 
bassador, and in October 1542 Con O'Neil, earl 
of Tyrone, visited the child. In 1543 his 
household was temporarily removed to Ash- 
ridge, Hertfordshire. In July of the same 
year the war with Scotland was brought to 
a close. The chief stipulation of the peace- 
treaty was that the boy should marry Mary 
Queen of Scots, who, although a queen, was 
not at the time quite seven months old. 

Until he was six Edward was brought up 
' among the women ' {Journaly 209). At that 
age Dr. Richard Cox [q. v.] became his first 
schoolmaster. In July 1544 Sir John Cheke 
[q. v.] was summoned from Cambridge * as a 
supplement to Mr. Coxe,' and to Sir Anthony 
Cooke [q. v.] Edward also owed some part of 
his education. On several occasions Ko^er 
Ascham gave him lessons in penmanship; 
but Edward, although he wrote clearly and 
regularly, never attained any remarkable skill 
in the art. Latin, Greek, and French chiefly 
occupied him. He wrote in Latin to his god- 
father Cranmer when he was eight. In 1546 
Dr. Cox stated that he knew * four books of 
Cato ' by heart, and ' things of the Bible,' 



Vives, Jisop, and * Latin-making.' His three 
extant exercise-books, dated 1648 to 1560 
(one is at the British Museum and two in 
the Bodleian Library), are chiefly filled with 
extracts from Cicero's philosophical works 
and Aristotle's * Ethics.' Ascham, writing 
to Sturm 14 Dec. 1660, when Edward was 
thirteen, reported that he had read all Aris- 
totle's * Ethics' and * Dialectics,' and was 
translating Cicero's * De Philosophia ' into 
Greek. Ihe books in his library, still pre- 
served in the Royal Library at the British Mu- 

: seum, include an edition of Thucydides (Basle, 
1540), besides most of the Fathers' writings. 
John Bellemain was Edward's French tutor, 
and Fuller states that he had a German tutor 

; named Randolph, but no such person is men- 
tioned elsewhere. Martin Bucer doubtfully 
asserts that Edward spoke Italian. Philip 
van Wilder taught him to play on the lute, 
and he exhibited his skill to the French am- 
bassador in 1650. Probably Dr. Christopher 
Tye, who set the Acts of the Apostles to music, 
and Thomas Stemhold, the versifier of the 
Psalms, also gave him musical instruction. 
The prince took an interest in astronomy, 
which he defended in a written paper in 1551, 
and he had an elaborate quadrant constructed, 
which is now in the British Museum. Always 
of a studious disposition, Edward would * se- 
quester himself into some chamber or gal- 
lery ' to learn his lessons by heart, and was 
always cheerful at his books (Foxe). Little 
time was devoted to ^ames, but he occasion- 
ally took part in tilting, shooting, himting, 
hawking, and prisoners' base. As early as 
August 1546 Annebaut, the French ambas- 
sador, was enthusiastic about the boy's ac- 
complishments, and in 1547 William Thomas, 
clerk of the council, described his knowledge 
and courtesy as unexampled in a child of 
ten. 

Many highborn youths of about his own 
age were his daily companions, and shared, 
according to the practice of the time, in his 
education. Among them were Henry Bran- 
don, duke of Norfolk, and his brother Charles, 
his cousin, Edward Seymour (heir of Pro- 
tector Somerset), Lord Maltravers (heir of 
the Earl of Arundel), John, lord Lumley, 
Henry , lord Strange (heir of theEarlof Derbv), 
John Dudley (son of the Earl of Warwick), 
Francis, lord Kussell, Henry, lord Stafford 
( heir of the last Duke of Buckingham), Lord 
Thomas Howard (son of the attainted Earl of 
Surrey^,Lord Giles Paulet, and Jamejs Blount, 
lord Moimtjoy. But his favourite school- 
fellow was Bamaby Fitzpatrick [q. v.], heir 
of Bamaby, lord of Upper Ossory, with whom 
he maintained in the last years of his short life 
an affectionate correspondence (printed by 



Edward VI 



86 



Edward VI 



Horace Walpole, 1772). Fuller and Bumet 
assert that Fitzpatrick was the prince's * whip- 
ping-boy/ sufiering in his own person the 
punishments due to the prince's offences. 

Edward was at Hatfield when Henry VHI 
died (21 Jan. 1546-7). He was little more 
than nine, and had never been formally cre- 
ated Prince of Wales, althou^hthe ceremony 
had been in contemplation;. Henry's will, 
dated 30 Dec. 1546, constituted Edward his 
lawful heir and successor, and named eighteen 
executors to act as a council of regency during 
the prince's minority, with twelve others as 
assistant-executors to bo summoned to council 
at the pleasure of the first-named body. 
Among the chief executors were Edward's 
imcle, the Earl of Hertford, and Viscount 
Lisle (afterwards Duke of Northumberland). 
On the day after Henry's death Hertford 
brought Edward and his sister Elizabeth to 
Enfield, and on Monday, 31 Jan., Edward was 
taken to the Tower of London. On Tuesday 
the lords of the council did homage, and 
Lord-chancellor Wriothesley announced that 
the council of regency had chosen Hertford 
to be governor and protector of the realm. 
The lord chancellorand other officers of justice 
resigned their posts to be reinstalled in them 
by the new king. On 4 Feb. the lord pro- 
tector assumed the additional offices of lord 
treasurer and earl marshal. Dudley became 
chamberlain, and the protector's brother, 
Thomas Sejmour, admiral. All other offices 
were left in the hands of the previous holders. 
On Sunday, 6 Feb., the young king, still at 
the Tower, was created a knight by his uncle, 
the protector, and on 18 Feb. he distributed 
a number of peerages among his councillors, 

gromoting the protector to the dukedom of 
omerset, Dudley to the earldom of Warwick, 
and Sir Thomas Seymour to the barony of 
Se}Tnour of Sudeley. A chapter of the ( Jarter 
was held on the same day, and the decora- 
tion conferred on the new Lord Seymour and 
others. 

The coronation took place in Westminster 
Abbey on Sunday, 20 Feb. On the previous 
day a sumptuous procession conducted the 
little king from the Tower to Whitehall. 
Archbishop Cranmer placed three crowns in 
succession on the boy s head, the Confessor's 
crown, the imperial crown, and one that had 
been made specially for the occasion. A brief 
charge was delivered by the archbishop, in 
which the child was acknowledg|*d to be the 
supreme head of the church. The two fol- 
lowing days were devoted to jousts which 
the king witnessed. During his short reign 
Edward divided most of his time between 
Whitehall and Greenwich; but he occa- 
sionally lodged at St. James's Palace, and 



in summer at Hampton Court, Oatlands, and 
Windsor. 

The religious sympathies of the yoimg 
prince soon declared themselves. During the 
first year of his reign he made the money- 
olTerings prescribed by the ancient catho- 
lic ritual for Sundays and saints' days, but 
after June 1548 the payments were discon- 
tinued, although a sum was still set apart 
for daily alms, and for royal maundies on 
Maundy Thursday and Easteivday. Dr. Ni- 
cholas Kidley, who became bishop of Roches- 
ter in 1547, regularly preached before the 
king from the opening of the reign. But 
Hugh Latimer was the favourite occupant of 
the pulpit in the royal chapel, and a special 
pulpit was erected m the private gardens at 
Whitehall to enable a greater number of 
persons to hear him preacn. Edward ' used 
to note every notable sentence ' in the ser- 
mons, ' especially if it touched a king,' and 
talked them over with his youthful com- 

S anions afterwards. On 29 June 1548 Gar- 
iner, bishop of Winchester, preached, and 
was expecteci to compromise himself by at- 
tacking the reformed doctrine, but he disap- 
pointea his enemies by acknowledging the 
king's title as supreme head of the church/ 
AMien parliament (23 Nov.) was debating 
the Book of Common Prayer, and * a notable 
disputation of the sacrament ' arose ' in the 
parliament house,' Edward is reported to have 
taken keen interest in the discussion, and 
shrewdly criticised some of the speakers. In 
Lent 1549 Latimer preached his celebrated 
series of sermons audressed to the young 
king's court. A year later. Hooper, tonet, 
Lever, Day, and other pronounced reformers, 
occu])ied the pulpit, and at the end of the 
HMgn John Knox delivered several sermons at 
Windsor, Hampton Court, and Westminster, 
Somerset and his fellow-councillors were 
of the king's way of thinking. The early 
legislat ion of the reign respecting the prayer- 
book, uniformity, of service, and the formu- 
laries of the church seemed ^set the Refor- 
mat ion on a permanent and unassailable foot- 
ing. Reformers hastened to England from 
foreign countries, and they vied with native 
protestants in eulogising Edward's piety and 
dovot ion to their doctrine, to which they pre- 
tended to attribute the religious advance. 
Bartholomew Traheron, writing to BuUinger 
of Zurich (28 Sept. 1548), says of the king: 
* A more holy disjwsition has nowhere existed 
in our time. Martin Bucer reported (15 May 
1550) that * no study delights him more than 
that of the holy scriptures, of which he reads 
daily ten chapters with the greatest atten- 
tion.' Bucer also wrote to Calvin ten days 
later that ' the king is exerting all his power 



Edward VI 



87 



Edward VI 



for the restoration of God's kingdom.* Peter 
Martyr and John ab Ulmis spoke in a like 
strain. When in July 1650 Hooper was 
offered the bishopric of Gloucester, and raised 
objections tSpart of the requisite oath, Ed- 
ward is sai^ to have erased the objection- 
able clause with his own pen (Zurich Letters, 
ill. 607). On 4 Dec. 1660 a French protes- 
tant in London, Francis Burgoyne, sent to 
Calvin a description of an interview he had 
with Edward, when the young king made 

lany inquiries about the great reformer. 

'alvin, taking the hint, sent the king a long 

atter of advice and exhortation in April 1661. 

^Vhen Knox wrote later of his e^roerience as 
a preacher at the court, he described as un- 
surpassable and altogether beyond his jears 
the king 8 * godly disposition towards virtue, 
and chiefly towards God's trutli.* Nicholas 
TJdal, in his dedication of his translation of 
Erasmus's paraphrase of the New Testament, 
is extravagantly eulogistic, and Bale, in his 
* ScriptorcH,* adds to his own praises of the 
English * Josiah,* as Edward was generally 
called by his panegyrists, the testimonies of 
Sleidan und Bibliander, besides complimen- 
tarv epigrams by Parkhurst. 

£klward lived a solitary life. lie only ac- 
knowledged any friendship with Cheke and 
Fitzpatrick. His sisters had separate house- 
hold's und seldom saw him. His intellec- 
tual precocity and religious ardour were un- 
accompanied by any show of natural aff'ec- 
tion.' Although so young, he showed traces 
of Tus father's harshness as well as much 
natural dignity of bearing. Protector Somer- 
set was nearly always with him, but the king 
treated him with indifference. The protector 
left for Scotland in 1647 to enforce by war the 
fulfilment of the marriage treaty between 
Edward and Queen Mary which the Scottish 
rulers were anxious to repudiate. The French 
aided the Scotch, and Boulogne was taken. 
In Somerset's absence his treacherous brother. 
Lord Seymour, the admiral, at tem])tcd to oust 
liim from a1T~place in the king's regard. Lord 
Seymour constantly sought interviews with 
Edward, and remarked on one occasion that 
the protector was px)wing old. Thereupon 
the king coolly replied, * It were bet ter that he 
should die.' This is the king's own account of 
the conversation. After Lord Seymour was 
throi^v'n into the Tower by the protector on a 
charge of treason, theimvy council went in a 
body to the king (24 Feb. 1648-9) to demand 
authorisationforfurtherprociKdings; the king 
gave the required consent with mucli dignity 
and the utmost readiness, and on 10 March 
showed eoual coolness in agreeing to his exe- 
cutionj in October 1649 the councillors, 
underi5udley, revolted against the protector. 



On 6 Oct. Somerset heard tidings of their 
action, and hastily removed the king from 
Hampton Court to Windsor. He was sub- 
sequently charged with having alarmed Ed- 
ward by telling him that his life was in peril, 
with having injured his health by the hasti- 
ness of his removal, and with having left the 
royal room at Windsor imguarded while his 
own was fully garrisoned. Somerset was sent 
to the Tower on 14 Oct. On 12 Oct. the hostile 
councillors explained to the king at Windsor 
the reasons of their policy. The boy, who 
had been suffering from * a rheum,' at once 
fell in with their suggestions, and catalogued 
in his journal his uncle's faults : * Ambition, 
vainglory, entering into rash wars in my 
youth . . . enriching himself of my trea- 
sure, following his own opinion, and doing 
all by his own authority.' On 16 Oct. the 
council met at Hampton Court and nomi- 
nated the Marquis of Northampton, the Earls 
of Arundel and Warwick, ana Lords *Went- 
worth, St. John, and Russell, to be lords go- 
vernors of the king for political and educa- 
tional purposes. New honours and offices 
were bestowed on the prominent leaders in 
the revolt ; the hopes of the Roman catholics 
rose, but it was soon apparent that much of 
Somerset's power had been transferred to the 
Earl of Warwick, who had no intention of 
reversingthe ecclesiastical policy. On 17 Oct. 
the king made a state progress through Lon- 
don, and in the following summer took an 
exceptionally long journey from Westmin- 
ster to Windsor (23 July), Guildford, Oking, 
Oatlands, Nonsuch, Richmond, and back to 
Westminster (16 Oct.) All the halts at 
night were made at the royal palaces or 
manor-houses. At Okiiig the Princess Mary 
was summoned to meet her brother. 

Somerset was pardoned 16 Feb. 1649-60, 
and returned to court (31 March) and to the 
council (10 April) with diminished prestige. 
Ijady Seymour, tlie king's grandmother and 
Somerset's mother, died in the following 
autumn, and the council on 18 Oct. deprecated 
the wearing of mourning for her. Schemes 
of marriage for the young king were now 
under discussion. The treaty of marriage 
with Mar>' Queen of Scots made in 1643 had 
been finally repudiated by Scotland, and the 




mother, Marv of Guise, on her passing through 
England in July 1561, he rtMumded her of the 
old engagement, and asked for its fulfilment 
(De Oriyine Scotorinrif Rome, 1678, ]>. 612), 
but the story is not supported. On 24 March 
1549-60 peace was signed with l>oth France 
and Scotland and it was decided that Edward 



\^ 



I 



Edward VI 



ss 



Edward VI 



should propose for the hand of Princess Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Henri II of France, the 
lady who ultimately married Philip II of 
Spain. In May 1551 the Marquis of North- 
ampton went on a special embassy to Paris 
to invest the princess's father with the order 
of the Garter, and to determine settlements. 
The marriage was agreed to, but it was de- 
cided to deter its celebration till both parties 
had reached the age of twelve. In July a 
French ambassador, Mar6chal de St. Andr6, 
brought Edward the order of St. Michael, and 
Warwick procured a portrait of the princess, 
which he directed the king to display so as 
to arrest the ambassador's attention. The 
marriage could hardly have commended itself 
to Edward^s religious prejudices, which grew 
stronger with his years. The question of 
permitting Princess Mary to celebrate mass 
had more than once been under the council's 
discussion, and permission had been refused. 
When she positively declined to adopt the 
new service-book in !May 1551, the emperor 
instructed Sir Richard Morysin, the English 
ambassador at his court, to demand in his name 
complete religious liberty for tlie princess. 
Some of the councillors suggested that the 
wishes of the em])eror should tie respected, but 
the king is stated to have resolutely opposed 
the grant of special privileges to his sister (cf. 
Jlarl. AIS. 353, f. 130). Jane Dormer, duchess 
of Feria, asserts that Marj' was left practically 
at liberty to do as she pleased, that she had 
much aflection for her brother, and had hopes 
of converting him to her faith. Parsons re- 
peated the story in his * Three Conversions of 
England ' (1604), pt. iv. p. 300. But there is 
no reason to doubt the king's resolution when- 
ever Komish practices were in debntf. The 
king with C'ranmer has been charg(»d with 

Jersonal responsibility for the execution of 
oan Bocher [q. v.], the anabaptist, in May 
1550; but although he just mentions her 
death in his diary, there is no reason to sup- 
pose that he was consulted in the matter. 

On 16 Oct. 1551 Somerset was attacked 
anew. Warwick resolved to secure the reins 
of government, and ns soon as he had been 
created l^uke of Northumberland contriv»»d 
to have Somerset sent to the Tower. Ed- 
ward was an easy ])rey to the ambitious 
nobleman. He accepted all the false charges 
preferred against Somerset as true, related 
the proceedings against his uncle with great 
fulness in his diary, and after signing the 
warrant for his execution laconically noted 
that * the Duke of Somerset had his hnadcut 
off on Tower Hill on 2'2 Jan. 1551-2.' The 
8ame heartlessness is evinced in the king's 
reference to the matter in his correspondence 
with Fitzpatrick. 



Edward, whose health had hitherto been 

food, was constitutionally weak, and in April 
552 was attacked by both measles and small- 
pox. On 15 April the parliament, which had 
sat from the beginning of the reign, was dis- 
solved, and the royal assent givenby commis- 
sion to many bills. On 12 May Eaward was 
sufficiently recovered to ride in Greenwich 
Park with a party of archers. Soon after- 
wards Cheke, the king's tutor, fell ill, and 
Edward showed unusual concern. He at- 
tributed Gheke's recovery to his prayers. In 
the autumn William Tnomas, clerk of the 
council, offered instruction in statecraft to 
the king, and submitted eighty-five politi- 
cal questions for his consideration. Edward 
agreed to receive from Thomas essays on stipu- 
lated subjects, and Thomas submitted to him 
papers on a proposal to reform the debased 
currency, on foreign alliances, and forms of . 

fovemment. Girolamo Cardano, the great 
lilanese physician, visited him in September 
or October, and wrote an interesting account 
of his interviews, in which he eulogised the 
voung king's learning. He cast Edward's 
horoscope and foretold that he would reach 
middle age. 

The empire and France were at war in 
the summer of 1552, and Edward watched 
the struggle with the utmost interest. The 
growth of his intelligence in political ques- 
tions is well attested by Queen Mary of Guise, 
who asserted, after visiting him in 1551, that 
he was wiser than any other of the three kings 
whom she had met. The emperor applied fo^ 
the fulfilment of Henry Vllrs treaty of alli- 
ance, while the French king pointed out that 
he was allied with the protestant princes of 
Europe, and therefore deserved Englii^h aid* 
But Edward^s advisers maintained a strict 
neutrality. On 19 June 1552 he signed letters 
of congratulations on recent success addressed 
to both combatants. In July, at the request 
of Northumberland, Edward urged a marriage 
between the duke's son, Guildford, and Lady 
Margaret Clift'ord, a kinswoman of the royal 
family. Edward's complete subjection to 
Northumberland caused much dissatisfaction 
outside the court. In August 1552 a woman, 
ElizabethHuggons,wa8 charged with libelling 
Northumberland for his treatment of Somer- 
set, and with saying that * the kin^ showed 
himself an unnatural nephew, and withall sho 
did wish that she had the jerking of him.' On 
22 Aug. Edward made a progress to Christ- 
church, Hampshire, and wrote of it with 
satisfaction to his friend Fitzpatrick. Knox 
asserted that in the last sermon he preached 
before the court he was not sparing in his 
denunciations of Northumberland and Win- 
chester, who wholly controlled the king*8 



Edward VI 



89 



Edward VI 



action (Faythful Admonition, 1554). With 
November 1552 Edward's journal ceases. 
The following Christmas was celebrated with 
prolonged festivities at Greenwich, but in 
January the king's fatal sickness began. 
William Baldwin, in his * Funeralles of Ed- 
ward the Sixt,' attributes it to a cold caught 
at tennis. A racking cough proved the first 
sign of rapid consumption. On 6 Feb. Prin- 
cess Mary visited him in state. On 16 Feb. the 
performance of a play was countermanded 
* bv occasion that his grace was sick.' On 
1 March Edward opened a new parliament ; 
the members assembled at W^hitehall in con- 
sequence of his illness, and he took the com- 
munion after Bishop Ridley's sermon. On 
31 March the members a^in assembled at 
AVhitehall, and Edward dissolved them. 

According to Grafton, Ridley's frequent 
references in his sermons to the distress among 
the London poor powerfully excited the king's 
sympathy, and he expressed great anxiety in 
his last year to affora them some relief. He 
discussed the matter with Ridley, and wrote 
for suggestions to the lord mayor. Stringent 
legislation against vagabonds and beggars 
had been passed in the first year of the reign, 
but the evil had not decreased. After due 
consultation it was resolved that the royal 
palace of Bridewell should be handed over 
to the corporation of London as * a work- 
house for the poor and idle people.* On 
10 April the grant was made, and on the 
next day Edward received the lord mayor 
at Whitehall and knighted him. The palace 
was not applied to its new uses till 1555 (cf. 
A. J. Copeland's Bridewell Royal Hospital, 
22-38). At the same time Edward arranged 
that Christ's Hospital, the old Grey Friars' 
monastery, should be dedicated to the service 
of poor scholars, and that St. Thomas's Hos- 
pital should be applied for the reception and 
medical treatment of the sick. The citizens of 
London subscribed money for these purposes, 
and they, and not the king, were mainly 
responsible for the success of the charitable 
schemes. A similar application of Savoy 
Hospital received Edward's assent. 

In the middle of April Edward went by 
water to Ghreenwich. Alarming reports of 
his health were current in May, and many 
persons were set in the pillory for hinting 
that he was suffering from the effects of a 
slow-working poison. Dr. George Owen and 
Dr. Thomas Wendy were in constant attend- 
ance with four other medical men, but they 
foolishly allowed experiments to be tried with 
a quack remedy which had disastrous effects. 
In the middle of May Antoine de Noailles, 
the French ambassador, was received by the 
king, who was then very weak, and on 16 May 



Princess Mary wrote to congratulate him on 
a reported improvement. On 21 May Lord 
Guildford Dudley was married to Lady Jano 
Grey. In the second week of June the king's 
case seemed hopeless, and Northumberland 
induced him to draw up a * devise of the suc- 
cession' in Lady Janes favour and to the^ 
exclusion of his sisters. In the autograph 
draft the king first wrote that the crown 
was to pass * to the L' Janes heires masles,' 
but for these words he subsequently substi- 
tuted * to the L' Jane & her neires masles ^ 
(see Pett/t MS. in Inner Temple Library).^ 
On 14 June Lord-chief-justice Montagu and 
the law officers of the crown were summoned 
to the kind's chamber to attest the devise. 
Monta^ indignantly declined, but he was 
recallea the next day, and on receiving a 
general pardon from the king to free him from 
all the possible consequences of his act, he con- 
sented to prepare the needful letters patent. 
An undertaking to carry out the king's wishes- 
was signed by the councillors, law officers, 
and many others. The original instrument 
is in Harl. MS. 35, f. 384. According to 
notes made for his last will at the same 
time Edward left 10,000/. to each of his sis- 
ters provided they chose husbands with con^ 
sent of the council ; gave 150/. a year to St. 
John's College, Cambridge ; directed that the 
Savoy Hospital scheme should be carried 
out ; that a tomb should be erected to his 
father's memor^', and monuments placed over 
the graves of Edward IV and Henry VII. He 
warned England against entering on foreim 
wars or altering her religion. Almost the 
last suitor to have an audience was (Sir) Tho- 
mas Gresham, the English agent in Flanders, 
to whom the king promised some reward for 
his services, saying that he should know that 
he served a kmg. On 1 July the council 
declared that the alarming accounts of Ed- 
ward's condition were false, but he died peace- 
fully in the arms of his attendant, Sir Henry 
Sidney, on 6 July, after repeating a prayer 
of his own composition. The body was em- 
balmed, and on 7 Aug., after the Duke of 
Northumberland's vain effort to give practical 
effect to Edward's devise of the succession [see 
Dudley, Lady Jane, and Dudley, John], 
the remains were removed to ^Whitehall. The 
funeral 1 00k place the next day, in Henry VII's 
Chapel, but no monument marked the grave^^. 
The chief mourner was Lord-treasurer \Vin- 
chester, and the cost of the ceremony 
amounted to 5,946/. 9s. 9d. Queen Mary at- 
tended high mass for the dead in the Tower 
chapel on the day of the funeral. 

In stature Edward was short for his age ; 
he was of fair complexion, with grey eyes 
and sedate bearing. His eyes were weak (cf. 



• / Y 



Edward VI 



90 



Edward 



Peteb Levens's Pathway to Health, 1632, ' 
f. 12), and he sometimes suffered from deaf- 
ness. An * epitaph ' ballad was issued on his 
death, and in 1500 William Baldwin issued a 
lonff poem, * Funeralles of Edward the Sixt/ 

Numberless portraits of Edward are ex- 
tant, nearly all of which are attributed to 
Holbein. Sketches of the prince as an infant, 
at the age of seven and at the date of his 
accession (in profile), are now at Windsor. 
The two first have been engraved byDalton, 
Bartolozzi, and Cooper. The finished pic- 
ture painted from the first was Ilolbein's gift 
to Henry VIII in 1539, and was engraved 
by Hollar in 1650; the finished picture from 
the second sketch belongs to the Marquis of 
Exeter ; that from the third belongs to the \ 
Earl of Pembroke. At Christ's Hospital are 
a portrait at the age of nine (on panel), and 
copies from originals at Petworth and Ilamp- 
ton Court painted after his accession. The two 
latter have been repeatedly engraved. Guil- 
liam Stretes, Marc Willems, and Hans Huet 
are known to have been employed by Ed- 
ward VI in portrait-painting, and they are 
doubtless responsible for some of the pictures 
ascribed to Holbein. Edward VI also figures 
in the great family picture at Hampton Court 
w^ith his father, stepmother (Catherine Parr), 
and two sisters; in the picture of his corona- 
tion, engraved from the original at Cowdray 
(now burnt) by Basire in 1787; in the draw- 
ing of his council in Grafton's 'Statutes,' 
1548. In Bale's ' Scriptores,' 1549, there is an 
engraving representing Bale giving the king 
a book, and in Cranmer's * Catechism,' 1548, 
is a similar illust rat ion. * Latimer preaching 
before Edward ' appears in Eoxe's * Acts and 
Monuments,' and Vertue engraved a picture 
by Holbein of Edward VI and the lord mayor 
founding the city hospital, the original of 
which is in Bridewell. Seventeenth-cen- 
tury statues are at St. Thomas's and Christ's 
Hospitals. An older bust is at Wilton. 

Edward's * Journal ' — a daily chronicle of 
his life from his accession to 28 Nov. 1552 — 
in his autograph, is in the Cottonian Library 
at the British ^Museum (Nero ALS. C. x.) Its 
authenticity is thoroughly established. It 
formed the foundation of Hay ward's * Life,' | 
and was first printed by Burnet in his * His- ; 
tory of the Reformation.' Declamations in ' 
Greek and Latin, French essays, private and 
public letters, notes for a reform of the order 
of the Garter, and notes of sermons are ex- 
tant in the king's own handwriting, chiefly in 
the British Museum Library. All these have 
been printed in J. G. Nichols's * Literary Ke- 
mains of Edward VI.' His own copy of the 
'Latin Grammar' (1540) is at Lambeth; 
another copy richly bound for his use (dated 



1 542) is at the British Museum. The French 
treatise by the king against the papal supre- 
macy was published separately in an English 
translation in 1682 and 1810, and with the 
original in 1874. The rough draft in the 
king's handwriting is in Brit. Mus. MS. Addit. 
5464, and the perfected copy in the Cambridge 
Univ. Library, Dd. xii. 59. 

[A complete memoir, with extracts from the 
Priry Council Registers and from other original 
documents, is prefixed to J. G. Nichols's Literary 
Hemains (Koxburghe Club, 1857). This memoir 
supersedes Sir John Hnyward's Life (1630) and 
Tytlcr's England under Edward VI and Mary 
(1839). Other authorities are Machyn*s Diary 
(Camd. See.); Chronicle of the Grey Friars 
(Camd. Soc.) ; Chronicle of Queen Mary und 
Queen Jane (Camd. Soc.) ; Grafton's Cluronicle ; 
Foxe's Acts, which devotes much epace to Ed- 
ward's reign and character; Zurich Letters, 
vol. i. ; Kpistolae Ascbami ; CaL St*ite Papers 
(Domestic) ; Strype's Annals, and Historia delle 
cose occorsc nel regno d'Inghilterra in materia 
del Duca di >iortomberlan (Venice, 1558). Mr. 
Fronde's History of England, Canon Dixon's 
Church History, and Lingard's History give ela- 
borate accounts of the events of the time.] 

S. L. L. 

EDWARD, Prince op Wales (1330- 
1376), called the Black Prince, and some- 
times Edward IV (Eulogium) and Edward 
OF Woodstock (Baker), the eldest son of Ed- 
ward III [q. v.] and Queen Philippa, was bom 
at Woodstock on 15 June 1330. His father 
on 10 Sept. allowed five hundred marks a 
year from the profits of the county of Chester 
for his maintenance, and on 25 Feb. follow- 
ing the whole of these profits were assigned 
to the queen for maintaining him and the 
king's sister Eleanor (Fwdera, ii. 798, 811). 
In the July of that year the king proposed 
to marry him to a daughter of Philip VI of 
Franco {ih. p. 822). On 18 March 1333 ho 
was invested with the earldom and county of 
Chester, and in the parliament of 9 Feb. 1337 
he was created Duke of Cornwall and received 
the duchy by charter dated 17 March. This 
is the earliest instance of the creation of a 
duke in England. By the terms of the charter 
the duchy was to be held by him and th^ 
eldest sons of kings of England (Courtuopb, 

E». 9). II is tutor was Dr. Walter Burley 
q. v.] of ^lerton College, Oxford. Ilis reve- 
nues were placed at the disposal of his mother 
in March 1334 for the expenses she incurred 
in bringing up him and nis two sisters, Isa- 
bella and Joan (Fwdera, ii. 880). Kumours 
of an impending French invasion led the king 
in August 1335 to order that he and his 
household should remove to Nottingham 
Castle as a place of safety (ib, p. 919), When 
two cardinals came to England at the end of 



Edward 



91 



Edward 



1337 to make peace between the king and 
Philip, the Duke of Corawall is said to have 
met them outside the city of London, and in 
company with many nobles to have conducted 
them to the king (Holinshed). On 11 July 

1338 his father, who was on the point of 
leaving England for Flanders, appointed him 
guardian 01 the kingdom during his absence, 
and he was appointed to the same office on 
27 May 1340 and 6 Oct. 1342 {Fcedera, ii. 
1049, 1125, 1212) ; he was of course too young 
to take any save a nominal part in the ad- 
ministration, which was carried on by the 
council. In order to attach John, diike of 
Brabant, to his cause, the king in 1339 pro- 
posed a marriage between the young Duke of 
Cornwall and John's daughter Margaret, and 
in the spring of 1345 wrote urgently to Pope 
Clement VI for a dispensation for this mar- 
riage (ib. ii. 1083, iii. 32, 35). On 12 May 
1343 Edward created the duke Prince of 
W'^ales, in a parliament held at Westminster, 
investing him with a circlet, gold ring, and 
silver rod. The prince accompanied his father 
to Sluys on 3 July 1345, and Edward tried 
to persuade the burgomasters of Ghent,Bruges, 
and Ypres to accept his son as their lord, but 
the murder of Van Artevelde put an end to 
this project. Both in September and in the 
following April the prince was called on to 
furnish troops from his principality and earl- 
dom for the impending campaign in France, 
and aa he incurred heavy debts in the king's 
service his father authorised him to make his 
will, and provided that in case he fell in the 
war his executors should have all his revenue 
for a year (t6. iii. 84). He sailed with the 
king on 11 July, and as soon as he landed at 
La Uogue received knighthood from his father 
(i^.p. 90; letter of Edward III to Archbishop 
of York, JRetrospective Jteview^ i. 119 ; Rot, 
Pari iii. 163 ; Chaxdos, 1. 145). Then he 
' made a right good beginning,' for he rode 
through the Cotentin, burning and ravaging 
as he went, and distinguished himself at the 
taking of Caen and in the engagement with 
the force under Godemar du Fay, which en- 
deavoured to prevent the English army from 
crossing the Somme by the ford of Blanque- 
ta^ue. Early on Saturday, 26 Aug., he re- 
ceived the sacrament with his father at Cr6cy, 
and took the command of the right, or van, 
of the army with the Earls of Warwick and 
Oxford, Geoffrey Harcourt, Chandos, and other 
leaders, and at the head, it is said, though 
the numbers are by no means trustworthy, 
of eight hundred men-at-arms, two thousand 
archers, and a thousand Welsh foot. When 
the Genoese bowmen were discomfited and 
the front line of the French was in some 
disorder, the prince appears to have quitted 



his position in order to fall on their second 
line. At this moment, however, the Count 
of Alen9on charged his division with such 
fury that he was in much ^eril, and the 
leaders who commanded with hmi sent ^ mes- 
sen^r to tell his father that he was in great 
straits and to beg for succour. When Edward 
learned that his son was unwounded, he bade 
the messenger go back and say that he would 
send no help, for he would that the lad should 
win his spurs (the prince was, however, al- 
ready a knight), that the day should be his, 
and that he and those who had charge of him 
should have the honour of it. It is said that 
the prince was thrown to the ground (Bakeb, 
p. 167) and was rescued by Richard de Beau- 
mont, who carried the banner of Wales, and 
who threw the banner over the prince, be- 
strode his body, and beat back his assailants 
(Ilistoire des mayeurs cT Abbeville y p. 328). 
Harcourt now sent to Arundel for help, and 
he forced back the French, who had probably 
by this time advanced to the rising ground of 
the English position. A flank attack on the 
side of Wadicourt was next made by the 
Counts of Alen9on and Ponthieu, but the 
English were strongly entrenched there, and 
the French were unable to penetrate the de- 
fences and lost the Duke of Lorraine and the 
Counts of Alen9on and Blois. The two front 
lines of their army were utterly broken before 
King Philip's division engaged. Then Edward 
appears to have advanced at the head of the 
reserv'e, and the rout soon became complete. 
When Edward met his son after the battle 
was over, he embraced him and declared that 
he had acquitted himself loyally, and the 
prince bowed low and did reverence to his 
father. The next day he joined the king in 
paying funeral honours to the kingof Bohemia 
(Baron Seymour de Constant, Bataille de 
CrScy,ed, 1846; Louandre, Histoire dCAbbe^ 
ville; ArchcBologiay xxviii. 171). 

It is commonly said that the prince re- 
ceived the name of the Black Prince after 
the battle of Cr6cv, and that he was so called 
because he wore black armour at the battle. 
The first recorded notices of the appellation 
seem to be given by Leland {Collectanea fed, 
Heame, 1774, ii. 307) in a heading to the 

* Itinerary ' extracted from * Eulogium.' The 

* Black Prince,' however, is not in the * Eulo- 
gium ' of the KoUs Series, except in the editor's 
marginal notes. Leland (tb, pp. 471-99) re- 
peats the appellation in quotations * owte of 
a booke ot chroniques in Peter College Li- 
brary.' This * booke ' is a transcript m>m a 
copy of Caxton's * Chronile,' with the continua- 
tion by Br. John Wark^'orth, master of the 
college, 1473-98 (edited by Halliwell for 
the Camden Society, and also printed in » 



Edward 



92 



Edward 



modernised text in * Cliron. of the White 
Rose/ pp. 101 sq.) The manuscript has Wark- 
worth^s autograph, * monitum/ but on exami- 
nation is found not to contain the words 
' Black Prince.' Other early writers who give 
Edward his well-known title are: Grafton 
(1563), who writes (Chronicle,^. 324, printed 
1669), * Edward, prmce of Wales, wno was 
called the blacke prince;' Holinshed (iii. 
848, b, 20) ; Shakespeare, * Henry V,' 11. iv. 
56 ; and in Speed. Barnes, * History of Ed- 
ward in ' (1688), p. 363, says : * From this 
time the French began to call liim Le Neoir 
or the Black Prince,' and gives a reference 
which implies that the appellation is found 
in a recora of 2 Richard II, but his reference 
does not appear sufficiently clear to admit of 
verification. The name does not occur in the 
* Eulogium,' the * Chronicle ' of Geoffrey le 
Baker, the *Chronicon Angline,' the *Poly- 
chronicon' of Higden or of Trevisa, or in 
Caxton's 'Chronile' (1482), nor is it used by 
Jehan le Bel or Froissart. Jelian de Wavrin 
(<f.l474?),who expounds a prophecy of Merlin 
as applying to the prince, says that he was 
called * Pie-de-Plomb ' (Croniques cPEngle- 
terrej t. i. 1 . ii. c. 66, Rolls ed. i. 23(J). Louandre 
{Hist. (T Abbeville f p. 230) asserts that before 
the battle Edward arrayed his son in black ar- 
mour, and it seems that the prince used black 
in his heraldic devices (Nichols, Boyal Wills, 
p. 66). It is evident from the notices of the 
sixteenth-century historians that when they 
wrote the name was traditional (the subject 
is discussed in Dr. Murray's * New English 
Dictionary,' art. * Black Prince,' pt. iii. col. ii. 
p. 895 ; compare the * Antiquary,* vol. xvii. 
No. 100, p. 183). As regards the story that 
the prince took the crest of three ostrich 
feathers and the motto * Ich dien ' from the 
king of Bohemia, who was slain in the battle 
of Cr6cy, it may be noted, first, as to the 




14th cent.), is an ostrich feather used as a 
mark of reference to a previous page, on which 
the same device occurs, * ubi depingitur penna 
principis Wall ire,' with the remark : * Et notA 
quod talem pennam albam portabat Ed- 
wardus, primogenitus E. regis Anglitc, super 
cristam suam, et illam pennam conquisivit de 
Rege Boemijfi, quem interfecit apud Cresy in 
francia ' (see also J. db AiiDERNE, * Miscel- 
lanea medica et chirurgica,' in Sloane MS, 
335, f. 68, 14th cent. ; but not, as asserted in 
Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. xi. 293, in Ar- 
deme's * l^actice,' Sloane MS, 76, f. 61, written 
in English 15th cent.) Although the reference 
and remark in Sloane MS. 56 may be by 
Seton and not by Ardeme, the prince's phy- 



sician, it is evident that probably before the 
prince's death the ostrich feather was recog- 
nised as his peculiar badge, assumed after the 
battle of Cr6cy. While the crest of John of 
Bohemia was the entire wings of a vulture 

* besprinkled with linden leaves of gold ' (poem 
in Baron Reiffenburg's Barante, Dues de 
Bourgogne'y Olivier de Vr^e, GhUalogie 
des Comtes deFlandre, pp. 65-7), the ostrich 
seems to have been the oadge of his house ; 
it was borne by Queen Anne of Bohemia, as 
well as by her brother Wenzel, and is on her 
effigy on her tomb {Arch€eologia,TijXx, 32-59). 
The feather badge occurs as two feathers on 
four seals of the prince (ib, xxxi. 361), and 
as three feathers on the alternate escut<;heons 
placed on his tomb in accordance with the 
directions of his wilL The prince in his will 
says that the feathers were * for peace,' i.e. 
for jousts and tournaments, and calls them 
his oadge, not his crest. Although the os- 
trich feather was his special badge, it was 
placed on some plate belonging to his mother, 
was used in the form of one or more feathers 
by various members of the royal house, and, 
by grant of Richard II, by Thomas Mowbray, 
duke of Norfolk {ib, 354-79). The story of 
the prince's winning the feathers was printed, 
probably for the first time, by Camden in his 

* Remaines.* In his first edition (1005) he 
states that it was * at the battle of Poictiers,' 
p. 161, but corrects this in his next edition 
(1014), p. 214. Secondly, as to the motto, 
it appears that the prince used two mottoes, 

* Iloumout ' and * Ich dien,' which are both 
appended as signature to a letter under his 
privy seal (Archaoloffia, xxxi. 381). In his 
will he directed that * Iloumout ' should be 
written on each of the escutcheons round his 
tomb. But it actuallv occurs only over the 
escutcheons bearing his arms, while over the 
alternate escutcheons with his badge, and 
also on the escroll upon the quill of each 
feather, are the words * ich dlene ' {sic). * Ilou- 
mout ' is interpreted as meaning high mood 
or courage (ib. xxxii. 69\ No early tradi- 
tion connects * Ich dien with John of Bo- 
hemia. Like * Iloumout,' it is probably old 
Flemish or Low German. Camden in his 

* Remaines ' (in the passage cited above) says 
that it is old English, * Ic dien,' that is * I 
serve,' and that the prince * adjoyned ' the 
motto to the feathers, and ho connects it, no 
doubt rightly, with the prince's position as 
heir, referring to Ep. to Galatians, iv. 1. 

Tlie prince was present at the siege of 
Calais, and after the surrender of the town 
harried and burned the country for thirty 
miles round, and brought much booty back 
with him (Knighton, c. 2595). He returned 
to England with his father on 12 Oct. 1347^ 



Edward 



93 



Edward 



took part in the jousts and other festivities 
of the court, and was invested by the king 
with the new order of the Garter. He shared 
in the king*s chivalrous expedition to Calais 
in the last days of 1349, came to the rescue 
of his father, and when the combat was over 
and the king and his prisoners sat down to 
feast, he and the other English knights served 
the king and his guests at the nrst course 
and then sat down to meat at another table 
(Fboissabt, iv. 82). When the king em- 
barked at Winchelsea on 28 Aug. 1350 to 
intercept the fleet of La Cerda, the prince 
sailed with him, though in another ship, and 
in company wit h his brother, the young Earl 
of Ricnmond (John of Gaunt ^. His ship 
was grappled by a large Spanish ship and 
was so full of leaks that it was likely to sink, 
and though he and his knights attacked the 
enemy manfullv, they were unable to take 
her. The Earl of Lancaster came to his 
rescue and attacked the Spaniard on the other 
side; she was soon taken, her crew were 
thrown into the sea, and as the prince and 
his men got on board her their own ship 
foundered (i*. p. 95 ; Nicolas, Royal Navy, 
ii. 112). In 1353 some disturbances seem to 
have broken out in Cheshire, for the prince 
as earl marched with the Duke of Lancaster 
to the neighbourhood of Chester to protect 
the justices, who were holding an assize there. 
The men of the earldom offered to pay him 
a heavy fine to bring the assize to an end, 
but when they thought they had arranged 
matters the justices opened an inquisition of 
trailbaston, took a large sum of money from 
them, and seized many houses and much land 
into the prince's, their earVs, hands. On his 
return from Chester the prince is said to have 
passed by the abbey of Dieulacres in Staf- 
fordshire, to have seen a noble church which 
his grandfather, Edward I, had built there, 
and to have granted five hundred marks, a 
tenth of the sum he had taken from his earl- 
dom, towards its completion ; the abbey was 
almost certainly not Dieulacres but Vale 
Royal (Kkightok, c. 2606 ; Monasticon, v. 
626, 704 ; Babnes, p. 468). 

When Edward determined to renew the 
war with France in 1355, he ordered the 
prince to lead an army into Aquitaine while 
ne, as his plan was, acted with the king of 
Navarre in Normandy, and the Duke of Lan- 
caster upheld the cause of Montfort in Brit- 
tany. The prince's expedition was made in 
accordance with the reqiiest of some of the 
Gascon lords who were anxious for plunder. 
On 10 July the king appointed him nis lieu- 
tenant in Gascony, ana gave him powers to 
act in his stead, and, on 4 Aug., to receive 
homages {Fctdera^ iii. 302, 312). He left 



London for Plymouth on 30 June, was de- 
tained there by contrary winds, and set sail 
on 8 Sept. witn about three hundred ships, in 
company with the Earls of Warwick, Suffolk, 
Salisbury, and Oxford, and in command of a 
thousand men-at-arms, two thousand archers, 
and a large body of Welsh foot (AvE8BUKr,p. 
201). At Bordeaux the Gascon lords re- 
ceived him with much rejoicing. It was de- 
cided to make a short campaign before the 
winter, and on 10 Oct. he set out with fifteen 
hundred lances, two thousand archers, and 
three thousand light foot. Whatever scheme 
of o^rations the King may have formed dur- 
ing the summer, this expedition of the prince 
was purely a piece of marauding. After 
grievously harrying the counties of Juliac, 
Armagnac, Astarac, and part of Comminges, 
he crossed the Garonne at Ste.-Marie a little 
above Toulouse, which was occupied by the 
Count of Armagnac and a considerable force. 
The count refused to allow the garrison 
to make a sally, and the prince passed on, 
stormed and burnt Mont Giscar, where many 
men, women, and children were ill-treated 
and slain (Fboissabt, iv. 163, 373), and took 
and pillaged Avignonet and Castelnaudary. 
All the country was rich, and the people 
' good, simple, and ignorant of war,' so the 

Srince took great spoil, especially of carpets, 
raperies, and jewels, for * the robbers 'spared 
notning, and the Gascons who marched with 
him were specially gree(hr (Jehan le Bel, 
ii. 188 ; Tboissabt, iv. 165;. Carcassonne was 
taken and sacked, but he did not take the 
citadel, which was strongly situated and for- 
tified. Ourmes (or Homps, near Narbonne) 
and Tribes bought off* his army. He plun- 
dered Narbonne and thought of attacking the 
citadel, for he heard that there was much 
booty there, but gave up the idea on finding 
that it was well defended. While he was 
there a messenger came to him from the papal 
court, urging him to allow negotiations for 
peace. He replied that he could do nothing 
without knowmg his father's will ( Avesbubt, 

E. 215). From Narbonne he turned to march 
ack to Bordeaux. The Count of Armagnac 
tried to intercept him, but a small body of 
French having been defeated in a skirmish 
near Toulouse the rest of the army retreated 
into the city, and the prince returned in peace 
to Bordeaux, bringing back with him enor- 
mous spoils. The expedition lasted eight 
weeks, during which the prince only rested 
eleven days in all the places he visited, and 
without performing any feat of arms did the 
French king much mischief (letter of Sir 
John Wingfield, Avesbubt, p. 222). During 
the next month, before 21 Jan. 1356, the 
leaders under his command reduced five towns 



Edward 



94 



Edward 



/ 



and seventeen castles (another letter of Sir 
J. Wingfield, ib. p. 224). 

On 6 July the prince set out on another 
expedition, undertaken with the intention of 
passing through France to Normandy, and 
there giving aid to his father*8 Norman allies, 
the party headed by the king of Navarre and 
Geoffrey Harcourt. In Normandy he ex- 
pected, he says, to be met by his father (letter 
of the prince dated 20 Oct., Arch(Bolo(/ia^ i. 
212; Iboissart, iv. 196). He crossed the 
Dordogne at Bergerac on 4 Aug. (for itinerary 
of this expedition see Eulogium, iii. 215 sq.), 
and rode through Auvergne, Limousin, and 
Berry, plundering and burning as he went 
until he came t^ Bourges, where he burnt the 
suburbs but failed to take the city. He then 
turned westward and made an unsuccessful 
attack on Issoudun, 26-7 Aug. Meanwhile 
Xing John was gathering a large force at 
Chartres, whence he was able to defend the 
passages of the Loire, and was sending troops 
to the fortresses that seemed in danger of 
attack. From Issoudun the prince returned 
to his former line of march and took Vierzon. 
There he learnt that it would be impossible 
for him to cross the Loire or to form a junc- 
tion with Lancast<;r, who was then in Brittany. 
Accordingly he determined to return to Bor- 
deaux by way of Poitiers, and after putting 
to death most of the garrison of the castle of 
Vierzon set out on the 29th towards Romo- 
rantin. Some French knights who skirmished 
with his advanced guard retreated into that 
place, and wlien he heard it he said : * Let 
us go there; I should like to see them a little 
nearer.' He inspected the fortress in person 
and sent his friend Chandos to summon the 
garrison to surrender. The place was defended 
by Boucicault and other leaders, and on their 
refusing his summons he assaulted it on the 
31st. The siege lasted three days, and the 
prince, who was enraged at the death of one 
of his friends, declared that he would not leave 
the place untaken. Finally he set fire to the 
roofs of the fortress by using Greek fire, re- 
duced it on 3 Sept., and on the 5th proceeded 
on his march through Berry. On the 9th King 
John, who had now gathered a larg^ force, 
crossed the Loire at Blois and went in pur- 
suit of him. WTien the king was at Loches 
on the 12th he had as many as twenty thou- 
sand men-at-arms, and with these and his 
other forces he advanced to Chauvigny. On 
the 10th and 17th his army crossed the 
Vienne. Meanwhile the prince was march- 
ing almost parallel to the French and at only 
a few miles distance from them. It is impos- 
sible to believe Froissart's statement that he 
was ignorant of the movements of the French. 
From the 14th to the 16th he was at Chatel- 



herault, and on the next day, Saturday, as he 
was marching towards Poitiers, some French 
men-at-arms skirmished with his advance 
guard, pursued them up to the main body of 
his army, and were all slain or taken pri- 
soners. The French king had outstripped 
him, and his retreat was cut off by an army 
at least fifty thousand strong, while he hacl 
not, it is said, more than about two thousand 
men-at-arms, four thousand archers, and fif- 
teen hundred light foot. Lancaster had en- 
deavoured to come to his relief, but had been 
stopped by the French at Pont-de-C6 {Chro- 
nique de Bertrand du GueBcUny p. 7). When 
the prince knew that the French army lay 
between him and Poitiers, he took up his 
position on some rising ground to the south- 
east of the city, between the right bank of 
the Miausson and the old Roman road, pro- 
bably on a spot now called La Cardinene, a 
farm in the commune of Beauvoir, for the 
name Maupertuis has long gone out of use, 
and remained there that niji^ht. The next day, 
Sunday, the 18th, the cardinal, H61ie Talley- 
rand, called *of P^rigord,' obtained leave 
from John to endeavour to make peace. The 
prince was willing enough to come to terms, 
and offered to give up all the towns and 
castles he had conquered, to set free all his. 
prisoners, and not to serve against the king of 
France for seven years, besides, it is said, offer- 
ing a payment of a hundred thousand francs. 
King John, however, was persuaded to de- 
mand that the prince and a hundred of his 
knights should surrender themselves up as 
prisoners, and to this he would not consent. 
The cardinal's negotiations lasted the whole 
day, and were protracted in the interest of 
the French, for John was anxious to give time 
for further reinforcements to join his army. 
Considering the position in which theprince 
then was, it seems probable that the French 
might have destroyed his little army simply 
by hemming it in with a portion of their host, 
and so either starving it or forcing it to leave 
its strong station and fight in the open with 
the certainty of defeat. Anyway John made 
a fatal mistake in allowing the prince the re- 
spite of Sunday ; for while the negotiations 
were going forward he employed his army in 
strengthening its position. The English front 
was well covered by vines and hedges ; on 
its left and rear was the ravine of the Miaus- 
son and a good deal of broken ground, and 
itB right was flanked by the wood and abbey 
of Nouaill6. All through the day the army 
was busily engaged in digging trenches and 
making fences, so that it stood, as at Cr§cy, 
in a kind of entrenched camp (Froissart, 
v. 29 ; Matt. Villani, vii. c. 16). The princo 
drew up his men in three divisions, the first 



Edward 



95 



Edward 



being commanded by Warwick and Suffolk, 
the second by himself^ and the rear by Salis- 
bury and Oxrord. The French were drawn up 
in rour diyiaions, one behind the other, and so 
lost much of the adyanta^e of their superior 
numbers. In front of his first line and on 
either side of the narrow lane that led to his 
position the prince stationed his archers, who 
were well protected by hedges, and posted a 
kind of ambush of three nundred men-at- 
arms and three ^imdred mounted archers, 
who were to fall on the flank of the second 
battle of the enemy, commanded by the Duke 
of Normandy. At daybreak on the 19th the 
prince addressed his little army, and the fight 
began. An attempt was made by three hun- 
dred picked men-at-arms to ride through the 
narrow lane and force the English position, 
but they were shot down by the archers. A 
body of Germans and the first division of 
the army which followed were thrown into 
disorder ; then the English force in ambush 
charged the second division on the flank, and 
as it began to waver the English men-at- 
arms mounted their horses, which they had 
kept near them, and charged down the hill. 
The prince kept Chandos by his side, and his 
friend did him ^ood service in the fray [see 
Chasdos, Sir Johx]. As they prepared to 
charge he cried : * J ohn, get forward ; you 
shall not see me turn my back this day, but 
I will be ever with the foremost,' and then 
he shouted to his banner-bearer, * Banner, 
advance, in the name of God and St. George ! ' 
All the French except the advance guard 
foueht on foot, and the division of the Duke 
of Normandy, already wavering, could not 
stand against the English charge and fled in 
disorder. The next division, under the Duke 
of Orleans, also fled, though not so shame- 
fully, but the rear, under the king in person, 
fought with much gallantry. The prince, 
* who had the courage of a lion, took great 
delight that day in the fight.' The combat 
lasted till a uttle after 3 p.k., and the 
French, who were utterly defeated, left eleven 
thousand dead on the field, of whom 2,426 
were men of gentle birth. Nearly a hundred 
counts, barons, and bannerets and two thou- 
sand men-at-arms, besides many others, were 
made prisoners, and the king and his youngest 
son, ^bilip» were among those who were 
taken. Tne English loss was not large. 
When the king was brought to him the prince 
received him with respect, helped him to take 
ofl* his armour, and entertained him and the 

freater part of the princes and barons who 
ad been made prisoners at supper. He 
served at the kings table and would not sit 
down with him, declaring that ' he was not 
worthy to sit at table with so great a king 



or so valiant a man,' and speaking many com- 
fortable words to him, for which the French 
5 raised him highly (Feoissart, v. 64, 288). 
'he next day the prince continued his re- 
treat on Bordeaux ; he marched warily, but 
no one ventured to attack him. At Bordeaux, 
w^hich he reached on 2 Oct., he was received 
with much rejoicing, and he and his men 
turned there tnrough the winter and wasted 
in festivities the immense spoil they had 
gathered. On 23 March 1357 he concluded a 
two years* truce, for he wished to return home. 
The Gascon lords were unwilling that the 
king should be carried oif to England, and 
he gave them a hundred thousand crowns to 
silence their murmurs. He left the country 
under the government of four Gascon lords 
and arrived in England on 4 May, after a 
voyage of eleven days, landing at Plymouth 
(Knighton, c. 2616; Eulogiumj iii. 227 ; Wal- 
SINGHAM, i. 283 ; Foddera, iii. 348, not at Sand- 
wich as Froissakt, v. 82). When he entered 
London in triumph on the 24th, the king, 
his prisoner, rode a fine white charger, while 
he was mounted on a little black hackney. 
Judged by modem ideas the prince's show of 
humility appears affected, and the Florentine 
chronicler remarks that the honour done to 
King John must have increased the misery 
of the captive and magnified the glory of 
King Edward ; but this comment argues a 
refinement of feeling which neither English- 
men nor Frenchmen of that day had prooably 
attained (Matt. Villani, vii. c. 00). 

After his return to England tlie prince 
took part in the many festivals and tourna- 
ments of his father's court, and in May 1369 
he and the king and other challengers held 
the lists at a joust proclaimed at London by 
the mayor and sheriff's, and, to the great de- 
light of the citizens, the king appeared as the 
mayor and the prince as tne senior sheriff 
(Barnes, p. 564). Festivities of this sort and 
the lavish gifts he bestowed on his friends 
brought him into debt, and on 27 Aug., when 
a new expedition into France was being pre- 
pared, the kine granted that if he fell his 
executors should have his whole estate for 
four years for the payment of his debts {Fon- 
dera y'm, 445) . In October he sailed with the 
kin^ to Calais, and led a division of the army 
dunng the campaign that followed [see under 
Edward III]. At its close he took the prin- 
cipal part on the English side in negotiating 
the treaty of Bretigny, and the preliminary 
truce arranged at Chartres on 7 Maj 1300 
was drawn up by proctors acting in lus name 
and the name oi tne regent of France (i*^. iii. 
480 ; Chandos, 1. 1539). He probably did 
not return to England until after his lather 
(James, ii. 228 n.), who landed at Rye on 



Edward 



96 



Edward 




18 May. On 9 July he and Henry, duke of 
Lancaster, landed at Calais in attendance on 
the French king. As, however, the stipu- 
lated instalment of the king's ransom was 
not ready, he returned to England, leaving 
John in charge of Sir Walter Manny and 
three other knights (Froissart, vi. 24). He 
accompanied his father to Calais on 9 Oct. to 
ist at the liberation of King John and the 
ratification of the treaty, rode with John to 
Boulogne, where he made his offering in the 
Church of the Virgin, and returned with his 
father to England at the beginning of No- 
vember. On 10 Oct. 1301 tne prince, who 
was then in his thirty-first je&T, married his 
cousin Joan, countess of Kent, daughter of 
Eklmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, younger 
son of Edward I, by lilargaret, daughter of 
Philip in of France, and widow of Thomas 
lord Holland, and in right of his wife earl of 
Kent, then in her thirty-third year, and the 
mother of tliree children. As the prince and 
the countess were related in the third de- 
gree, and also by the spiritual tie of sponsor- 
ship, the prince being godfather to Joan*s 
€lder son Thomas, a dispensation was obtained 
for their marriage from Innocent VI, though 
they appear to nave been contracted before 
it was applied for (Fosdera, iii. 026). The 
marriage was performed at Windsor, in the 
presence of the king, by Simon, archbishop 
of Canterbury. It is said that the marriage 
— that is, no doubt, the contract of marriage 
^— was entered into without the knowledge of , 
the king (Froissart, vi. 275, Amiens). The i 
prince and his wife resided at Berkhamp- 
stead in Hertfordshire. On 19 July 1362 the 
king granted him all his dominions in Aqui- ; 
taine and Gascony, to be held as a princi- 
pality by liege homage on payment of an 
ounce of gold each year, together with the 
title of Prince of Aquitaine and Gascony i 
(^Fosdera, iii. 667). During the rest of the 
year he was occupied in preparing for his de- 
parture to his new principality, and after 
Christmas he received the king and his court 
at Berkhampstead, took leave of his father 
and mother, and in the following February 
sailed with his wife and all his household for 
Gascony, and landed at Rochelle. There he 
was met by Chandos, the king's lieutenant, 
and proceeded with him to Poitiers, where 
he received the homage of the lords of Poitou 
and Saintonge ; he tlien rode to various cities 
tind at last came to Bordeaux, where from 
9 to 30 July he received the homage of the 
lords of Gascony. He received all graciously, 
and kept a splendid court, residing sometimes 
at Bordeaux and sometimes at Angouleme. 
He appointed Chandos constable of Guyenne, 
tad provided the knights of his household 



with profitable offices. They kept much 
state, and their extravagance displeased the 
people (Froissart, vi. 82). Many of the 
Gascon lords were dissatisfied at being handed 
over to the dominion of the English, and the 
favour the prince showed to his own country- 
men, and the ostentatious magnificence they 
exhibited, increased this feeling of dissatis- 
faction. The lord of Albret and many more 
were always ready to give what help they 
could to the French cause, and the Count of 
Foix, though he visited the prince on his first 
arrival, was thoroughly French at heart, and 
gave some trouble in 1365 by refusing to do ho- 
mage for Beam (FwderUf iii. 779). Charles V, 
who succeeded to the throne of France in 
I April 1364, was careful to encourage the 
malcontents, and the prince's position was 
by no means easy. In April 1363 the prince 
mediated between the Counts of Foix and 
Arma^nac, who had for a long time been at 
war with each other. He also attempted in 
the following February to mediate between 
Charles of Blois and John of Mont fort, the 
rival competitors for the duchy of Brittany. 
Both appeared before him at Poitiers, but his 
mediation was unsuccessful. The next month 
he entertained the king of Cyprus at Angou- 
leme, and held a tournament there. At the 
same time he and his lords excused them- 
selves from assuming the cross. During the 
summer the lord of Albret was at Paris, and 
his forces and several other Gascon lords ujh 
held the French cause in Normandy against 
the party of Navarre. Meanwhile war was 
renewed in Brittany; the prince allowed 
Chandos to raise and lead a force to succour 
the party of Montfort, and Chandos won the 
battle of Auray against the French. 

As the leaders of the free companies which 
desolated France were for the most part Eng- 
lishmen or Gascons, they did not ravage Aqui- 
taine, and the prince was suspected, probai)ly 
not without cause, of encouraging, or at least 
of taking no pains to discourage, their pro- 
ceedings (Froissart, vi. 183). Accordingly 
on 14 Nov. 1364 Edward called upon him 
to restrain their ravages {Fasderay iii. 754). 
In 1365 these companies, under Sir Hugh 
Calveley [q. v.] and other leaders, took service 
with Du Uuesclin, who employed them in 
1366 in compelling Pet^r of Castile to flee 
from his kingdom, and in setting up his bas- 
tard brother, Henry of Trastamare, as king 
in his stead. Peter, who was in allianoe with 
King Edward, sent messengers to the prince 
asking his help, and on receiving a gracious 
answer at Corunna, set out at once, and ar- 
rived at Bayonne with his son and his three 
daughters. The prince met him at Cap Bre- 
ton, and rode with him to Bordeaux. Many . 



Edward 



97 



Edward 



of his lords, both Enelish and Gascon, were 
unwilling that he should espouse Peter's 
cause, but he declared that it was not fitting 
that a bastard should inherit a kingdom, or 
drive out his lawfully bom brother, and that 
no king or king's son ought to suffer such a 
despite to royalty ; nor could any turn him 
from his determmation to restore tlie king. 
Peter won friends by declarinjj that he would 
make Edward's son £uigof Galicia, and would 
divide his riches among those who helped 
him. A parliament was held at Bordeaux, 
in which it was decided to ask the wishes of 
the English king. Edward replied that it 
was right that his son should help Peter, 
and the prince held another parliament at 
which the king's letter was read. Then the 
lords agreed to give their help, provided that 
their pay was secured to them. In order to 
give them the required security, the prince 
agreed to lend Peter whatever money was 
necessary. He and Peter then held a con- 
ference with Charles of Navarre at Bayonne, 
and agreed with him to allow their troops to 
pass through his dominions. In order to 
persuade him to do this, Peter had, besides 
other grants, to pay him 56,000 florins, and 
this sum was lent him by the prince. On 
23 Sept. a series of agreements were en- 
tered mto between the prince, Peter, and 
Charles of Navarre, at Libourne, on the Dor- 
do^ne, by which Peter covenanted to put the 
prince in possession of the province of Biscay 
and the territory and fortress of Castro de 
Urdialds as pledges for the repayment of this 
debt, to pay 550,000 florins lor six months' 
wages at specified dates, 250,000 florins being 
the prince's wages, and 800,000 florins the 
wages of the lords who were to serve in the 
expe<lition. He consented to leave his three 
daughters in the prince s hands as hostages 
for the fulfilment of these terms, and further 
agreed that whenever the king, the prince, 
or their heirs, the kin^ of England, should 
march in person against the Moors, they 
should have the command of the van before 
all other christian kings, and that if they were 
not present the banner of the king of England 
should be carried in the van side bv side with 
the banner of Castile (ib. iii. 799-807). The 
prince received a hundred thousand francs 
from liis father out of the ransom of the late 
king of France (i*. p. 787), and broke up his 
plate to help to pay the soldiers he was 
taking into his pay. While his army was 
assembling he remained at Angouleme, and 
was there visited by Peter (Atala ; Chandos). 
He then stayed over Christmas at Bordeaux, 
for his wife was there brought to bed of her 
second son Bichard. He left Bordeaux early 
in February, and joined his army at l)ax, 

rOL. XYII* 



where he remained three days, and received 
a reinforcement of four hundred men-at-arms 
and four hundred archers sent out by his 
father under his brother John, duke of Lan- 
caster. From l)ax he advanced by St. Jean- 
Pied-de-Port through Roncesvalles to Pam- 
plona. When Calveley and other English and 
Gascon leaders of free companies found that 
he was about to fight for Peter, they threw 
up the service of Ilenry of Trastamare, and 
joined him * because he was their natural 
lord ' (Atala, xviii. 2). While he was at 
Pamplona he received a letter of defiance 
from Henrv (Fkoissart, vii. 10). From 
Pamplona he marched by Arruiz to Salva- 
tierra, which opened its gates to his army, 
and thence advanced to Vittoria, intending 
to march on Burgos by this direct route. A 
body of his knights, which he had sent out 
to reconnoitre under Sir William Felt on, w^as 
defeated by a skirmishing party, and he found 
that Henry had occupied some strong posi- 
tions, and especially fet. Domingo de la Cal- 
zada on the right of the Ebro, and Zaldiaran 
on the left, which made it impossible for him 
to reach Burgos through Alava. Accord- 
ingly he crossed the Ebro, and encamped 
under the walls of Logroiio. During these 
movements his army had suffered from want 
of provisions both for men and horses, and 
from wet and windy weather. At Logrono, 
however, though provisions were still scarce, 
they were somewhat better off, and there 
on 30 March the prince wrote an answer 
to Henry's letter. On 2 April he quitted 
Logrono and moved to Navarrete de Rioja. 
Meanwhile Henry and his French allies had 
encami)ed at Najara, so that the two armies 
were now near each other. Letters passed 
between Henry and the prince, for Henry 
seems to have been anxious to make terms. 
He declared that Peter was a ty^a^t, and 
had shed much innocent blood, to which the 
prince replied that the king had told him 
that all the persons he had slain were traitors. 
The next morning the prince's army marched 
from Navarrete, and all dismounted while 
they were yet some distance from Henry's 
army. The van, in which were three thou- 
sand men-at-arms, both English and Bretons, 
was led by Lancaster, Chandos, Calveley, and 
Clisson ; the right division was commanded 
by Armagnac and other Gascon lords ; the 
left, in which some German mercenaries 
marched with the Gascons, by the Captal de 
Buch and tlie Count of Foix ; and the rear 
or main battle by the prince, with three 
thousand lances, and with the prince was 
Peter and, a little on his right, the dethroned 
king of Majorca and his company ; the num- 
bers, however, are scarcely to be depended 

H 



Edward 



98 



Edward 



on. Before the battle began the prince prayed 
aloud to God that as he had come that daj 
to uphold the right and reinstate a disin- 
herited king, God would grant him success. 
Then, after telling Peter that he should know 
that day whether he should have his king- 
dom or not, he cried : * Advance, banner, m 
the name of God and St. George ; and God 
defend our right.' The knights of Castile 
pressed his van sorely, but the wings of 
Henry's army behaved ill, and would not 
move, so that the Gascon lords were able to 
attack the main body on the flanks. Then 
the prince brought the main body of his army 
into action, and the fight became hot, for he 
had under him ' the flower of chivalry, and 
the most famous warriors in the whole world.' 
At length Henry's van gave way, and he fled 
from the field ( Atala, xviii. c. 23 ; Fbois- 
SART, vii. 37; Chandos, 1. 3107 sq. ; Du 
GuESCLiN, p. 49). When the battle was over 
the prince besought Peter to spare the lives 
of those who had offended him. Peter as- 
sentcdy with the exception of one notorious 
traitor, whom he at once put to death, and 
he also had two others slam the next day. 
Among the prisoners was the French marshal 
Audeneham, whom the prince had formerly 
taken prisoner at Poitiers, and whom he had 
released on his giving his word that he would 
not bear arms against him until his ransom ' 
was paid. When the prince saw him he re- 
proached him bitterly, and called him * liar 
and traitor.' Audeneham denied that he was . 
either, and the prince asked him whether he 
would submit to the judgment of a body of 
knights. To this Audeneham agreed, and 
after he had dined the prince chose twelve 
knights, four English, four Gascons, and four 
Bretons, to judge between himself and the 
marshal. After he had stated his case, Au- 
deneham rtiplied that he had not broken his 
word, for the army the prince led was not 
his own ; he was merely m tlie pay of Peter. 
The knights considered that this view of the 
prince's position was sound, and gave their 
verdict for Audeneham (Atal.\). 

On 5 April the prince and Peter marched 
to Burgos, and there kept Easter. The prince, j 
however, did not take up his quart(^rs in the 
city, but camped outsiae the walls at the 
monastery of Las Helgas. Peter did not pay 
him any of the money he owed him, and he 
could get nothing from him except a solemn 
renewal of his bond of the previous 23 Sept., 
which he made on 2 May before the lu^h 
altar of the cathedral of Burgos (Fwderaj lii. 
826). By this time the prince began to sus- 
pect his ally of treachery. Peter had no in- 
tention of paying his debts, and when the 
prince demanded possession of Biscay told 



him that the Biscayans would not consent 
to be handed over to him. In order to get 
rid of his creditor he told him that he could 
not get money at Burgos, and persuaded the 
prince to take up his quarters at Valladolid 
while he went to Seville, whence he declared 
he would send the monev he owed. The 
prince remained at Valladolid during some 
very hot weather, waiting in vain for his 
money. His army sufierea so terribly from 
dysentery and other diseases that it is said 
that scarcely one Englishman out of five ever 
saw England again (Kiqghtok, c. 2629). He 
was himself seized with a sickness from which 
he never thoroughly recovered, and which 
some said was caused by poison (Walsing- 
HAM, i. 305). Food and drink were scarce, 
and the free companies in his pay did much 
mischief to the surrounding country (Chan- 
Dos, 1. 3670 sq.) Meanwhile Henry of Trasta- 
mare made war upon Aquitaine, took Ba- 
gndres and wasted tlie country. Fearing that 
Charles of Navarre would not allow him to 
return through his dominions, the prince 
negotiated with the king of Aragon for a 
passage for his troops. The king made a 
treaty with him, ana when Charles of Na- 
varre heard of it he agreed to allow the 
prince, the Duke of Lancaster, and some of 
their lords to pass through his country ; so 
they returned through Roncesvalles, and 
reached Bordeaux early in September. Somo 
time after he had returned the companies, 
some six thousand strong, also reached Aqui- 
taine, having passed through Aragon. As 
they had not received the whole of tne money 
the prince had agreed to pay them, they took: 
up their quarters in his country and began 
to do much mischief. He persuaded the cap- 
tains to leave Aquitaine, and the companies 
under their command crossed the Loire and 
did much damage to France. This greatly 
angered Charles V, who about this time did 
the prince serious mischief by encouraging 
disaffection among the Gascon lords. When 
the prince was gathering his army for his 
Spanish expedition, the lordof Albret agreed 
to serve with a thousand lances. Considering, 
however, that he had at least as many men 
as he could find provisions for, the prince on 
8 Dec. 1360 wrote to him requesting that he 
would bring two hundred lances only. Tlie 
lord of Albret was much incensed at this, 
and, though peace was made by his uncle 
the Count of Annagnac, did not forget the 
offence, and Froissart speaks of it as the 
* first cause of hatred between him and the 
prince.' A more powerful cause of this lord's 
discontent was the non-payment of an annual 
pension which had been granted him by Ed- 
ward. About this time he agreed to many 



Edward 



99 



Edward 



Margaret of Bourbon, sister of the queen of 
France. The prince was much vexed at this, 
and, his temper probably being soured by 
sickness and disanpointment, behaved with 
rudeness to both D Albret and his intended 
bride. On the other hand, Charles offered 
the lord the pension which he had lost, and 
thus drew him and his \mcle, the Count of 
Armagnac, altogether over to the French 
side. The immense cost of the late cam- 
paign and his constant extrava^^ce liad 
Drought the prince into difficulties, and as 
soon as he returned to Bordeaux he called 
an assembly of the estates of Aquitaine to 
meet at St. Emilion in order to obtain a ^ant 
£rom them. It seems as though no busmess 
was done then, for in January 1S68 he held 
a meeting of the estates at An^ouleme, and 
there prevailed on them to allow nim d^fouage, 
or hearth-tax, of ten sous for five years. An 
edict for this tax was published on 25 Jan. 
The chancellor, John Harewell, held a con- 
ference at Niort, at which he persuaded the 
barons of Poitou, Saint onge, Limousin, and 
Eouergue to ame to this tax, but the great 
vassals of the ni^h marches refused, and on 
20 June and again on 25 Oct. the Counts of 
Armagnac, P6rigord, and Comminges, and 
the lord of Albret laid their complaints before 
the king of France, declaring that he was 
their lord paramount (Fkoissart, i. 548 »., 
Buchon). Meanwhile the prince's friend 
Chandos, who strongly urged him against 
imposing this tax, had retired to his Korman 
estate. 

Charles took advantage of these appeals, 
and on 25 Jan. 1369 sent messengers to the 
prince, who was then residing at Bordeaux, 
summoning him to appear in person before 
liim in Pans and there receive judgment. He 
replied: * We will willingly attend at Paris 
on the day appointed since the king of France 
sends for us, out it shall be with our helmet 
on our head and sixty thousand men in our 
company.* He caused the messengers to be 
imprisoned, and in revenge for this the Coimts 
of P^rigord and Comminges and other lords 
set on the high-steward of Rouergue, slew 
many of his men, and put him to flight. The 
prince sent for Chandos, who came to his help, 
and some fighting took place, though war was 
not yet declared. His health was now so 
feeble that he could not take part in active 
operations, for he was swollen with dropsy 
and could not ride. By 18 March more than 
nine hundred towns, castles, and other places 
signified in one way or another their adhe- 
rence to the French cause (Fboissabt, vii. 
Pre£ p. Iviii). He had already warned his 
father of the intentions of the French king, 
but there was evidently a party at Edward 8 



court that was jealous of his power, and his 
warnings were slighted. In April, however, 
war was declared. Edward sent the Earls 
of Cambridge and Pembroke to his assist- 
ance, and Sir Robert Knolles, who now again 
took service with, him, added much to his 
strength. The war in Aquitaine was desul- 
tory, and, though the English maintained 
their ground fairly in the field, every day 
that it was prolonged weakened their hold 
on the country. On 1 Jan. 1370 the prince 
sustained a heavy loss in the death of his 
friend Chandos. Several efforts were made 
by Edward to conciliate the Gascon lords 

fsee under Edwabd III], but they were 
ruitlessand can only have served to weaken 
the prince's authority. It is probable that 
John of Gaunt was working against him at 
the English court, and when he was sent 
out in the summer to help his brother, he 
came with such extensive powers that he 
almost seemed as though he had come to 
supersede him. In the spring Charles raised 
two large armies for the invasion of Aqui- 
taine ; one, under the Duke of Anion, was to 
enter Guyenne by La Reole and Bergerac, 
the other, imder the Duke of Berry, was to 
march towards Limousin and Queray, and 
both were to unit« and besiege the prince in 
Angouleme. HI as he was, the prince left 
his bed of sickness (Chandos, 1. 4043) and 
gathered an army at Coguac, where he was 
joined by the Barons of Poitou and Saintonge, 
and the Earls of Cambridge, Lancaster, and 
Pembroke. The two French armies gained 
many cities, united and laid siege to Limoges, 
which was treacherously surrendered to them 
by the bishop, who had been one of the 

Erince*s trusted fnends. When the prince 
eard of the surrender, he swore * by the 
soul of his father ' that he would have the 
place again and would make the inhabitants 
pay dearly for their treachery. He set out 
Irom Cognac with an army of twelve hundred 
lances, a thousand archers, and three thousand 
foot. His sickness was so great that he was 
unable to mount his horse, and was carried in 
a litter. The success of the French in Aqui- 
taine was checked about this time by the 
departure of Du Guesclin, who was sum- 
moned to the north to stop the ravages of 
Sir Robert Knolles. Limoges made a gal- 
lant defence, and the prince determined to 
take it by undermining the walls. His 
mines were constantly countermined by the 
garrison, and it was not until the end of Oc- 
tober, after a month's siege, that his miners 
succeieded in demolishing a large piece of 
wall which filled the ditches with its ruins. 
The prince ordered that no quarter should 
be given, and a terrible massacre took place 

h2 



Edward 



100 



Edward 



of persons of all ranks and ages. Many 
piteous appeals were made to him for mercy, 
but he would not hearken, and three thou- 
sand men, women, and children are said to 
have been put to the sword. "When the 
bishop was brought before him, he told him 
that his head should be cut off, but Lancas- 
ter begged him of his brother, and so, while 
60 many innocent persons were slain, the 
life of the chief oflender was spared. The 
city was pillaged and burnt (Iroissabt, i. 
C20, Buchon; Co7it. MuRiMtTTii, p. 209). 
The prince returned to Cognac; his sickness 
increased, and he was forced to give up all 
hope of being able to direct any further 
operations and to ])roceed first to Angoulemo 
and then to Bordeaux. The death of his 
eldest son Edward, wliich happened at this 
time, grieved him greatly; he became worse, 
and his surgeon advised him to return to 
England. He left Aquitaine in charge of 
Lancaster, landed at Southampton early in 
January 1371, met his father at Windsor, 
and put a stop to a treaty the king had 
made the previous month with Charles of 
Navarre, for ho would not consent to the 
cession of territory that Charles demanded 
(^Fccdertty iii. 007), and then went to his 
manor of Berkhampstead, ruined alike in 
health and in fortune. 

On his return to England the prince was 
probably at once recognised as the natural 
opponent of the influence exercised by the 
anti-clerical and Lancastrian party, and it is 
evident that the clergy trusted him ; for on 
2 May he met the convocation of Canterbury 
at the Savoy, and persuaded them to make 
an exceptionally large grant (Wilkins, Con- 
cilia j iii. 91 ). ilis health now began to im- 
prove, and in August 1372 he sailed with his 
father to the relief of Thouars ; but the fleet 
never reached the French coast. On 6 Oct. 
he resigned the principality of Aquitaine and 
Gascony, giving as his reason that its revenues 
were no longer suflicient to cover expenses, 
and acknowledging his resignation in the par- 
liament of the next month. At the con- 
clusion of this parliament, after the knights 
had been dismissed, he met the citizens and 
burgesses * in a room near the white chamber,' 
and prevailed on them to extend the customs 
granted the year l>efore for the protection of 
merchant shipping for another year {Hot. 
Pari, ii. 310; Hallam, Const Hist, iii. 47). 
It is said that after Whitsunday (20 May) 
1374 the prince presided at a council of pre- 
lates and nobles held at Westminster to an- 
swer a demand from Gregory XI for a subsidy 
to help him against the J^orentines. The 
bishops, after hearing the pope's letter, wh* -^ 
asserted Lis right as lord spiritual, and. 



hich 
bv 



the grant of John, lord in chief, of the kinc:- 
dom, declared that * he was lord of all.* The 
cause of the crown, however, was vigorously 
maintained, and the prince, provoked at the 
hesitation of Archbishop Wittlesey, spoke 
sharply to him, and at last told him that ho 
was an ass. The bishops gave way, and it 
was declared that John had no power to brin^ 
the realm into subjection {Ckmt, Eulogiuniy iiu 
337. This story, told at length by the cont inua- 
tor of the * Eulogium,' presenta some difficul- 
ties, and the pope's pretension to sovereignty 
and the answer that was decided on reacL 
like echoes of the similar incidents in 1360). 
The prince's sickness again became very heavy, 
though when the 'Good parliament' met on 
28 April 1376 he was looked upon as the chief 
support of the commons in their attack on 
the abuses of the administration, and evidently 
acted in concert with William of Wykeham 
in opposing the influence of Lancaster and 
the disreputable clique of courtiers who up- 
held it, and he had good cause to fear that 
his^brother's power would prove dangerous 
towie prospects of his son llichard (Chron. 
Angliofj Pref. xxix, np. 74, 75, 393). llichanl 
Lyons, the king's financial agent, who was- 
impeached for gigantic frauds, sent him a 
I bribe of 1 ,000/. and other gifts, but he refused 
to receive it, though he ailerwards said that 
it was a pity he had not kept it, and sent it 
to pay the soldiers who were fighting for the 
king(|om {ib, p. 80). From tne time that 
the parliament met he knew that he wa» 
dying, and was much in prayer, and did many 
good and charitable works. His dysentery 
became very violent, and he often fainted 
from weakness, so that his household believed 
that he was actually dead. Yet he bore all 
his sufferings patiently, and 'made a very 
noble end, remembering God his Creator in 
I his heart,' and bidding his people pray for 
him {ib. n. \^ ; Chandos, 1. 4133). lie gave 
gifts to all his ser\'antB, and took leave of the 
j king his father, asking him three things, that 
j he would confirm his gifts, pay his debts 
' quickly out of his estate, and protect his son 
Richard. These things the king promised. 
■ Then he called his young son to him, and 
I bound him under a curse not to take awav 
' the gifts he had bestowed. Shortly before he 
diefl Sir Richard Stur}', one of the courtiers 
of Lancaster's party, came to see him. The 
prince reproached him bitterly for his evil 
deeds. Then his strength failed. In his last 
moments he was attended by the Bishop of 
Bangor, who urged him to ask forgiveness of 
God and of all those whom he had injured. 
For a while he would not do this, but at last 
joined his hands and prayed that God and 
man would grant him pardon, and so died in 



PPoljcIinMiicon,' t 



a furty-eixtli year. His dentil took place 

illlie palace of Westminster (Walsisoham, 

"M ; FBOlasiRT, i. 706, Buelion ; it is ns- 

d b; CftxtDD, ill bia ci'Dtinimtion of the 

' 'in,' cap. 8| that the prince diei! 

of Kennington, and thut iiis 

«■»» brought loWpfltminaler) on 8 July, 

J Sunday, & dny lie liad always kypt 

li tpeciBl reverence (Chaiiikis, L 4201). 

ka buried with great state in Canterbury 

dni on 29 Sept., and the directions con- 

D bis will were followed at his funeral, 

le details of his tomb, and in the famous 

h placed upon it. Above it atill hang 

rcoat, helmet, shield, and gauntlets. 

d two aons by Uis wife Joan: Edward, 

n tit Angoulemo on 27 July 136t (Eulo- 

jb), UW5 (Mpbimctii), or 1363 (Feois- 

tl)i died immediately before his father's 

to England in January 1371. and was 

in the church ofthe Austin F" "" 

X (Wbevbr, J^nerai Monui 

\\ ftndRiahard,whuBucc«ededbi| 

iron thi! throne ; and it ii 

I, Sit John Sounder 

mdon [q. v.} 

roes's Hilt, of Eilwunl, 

k Prioce [sBB nnrtiT e3 

"klLifsuf Edwaril, Fringe <>* 

*,AKniiTti] : O. P. K. Jamas'! 

piidv&nl thu Black Priucc, IB; 

idy.bat usrfal ; in iba «dino 

* '■ bis vurk from the s 

. _ bUin; Lougroan'a Lifa ni 

it ni ; Uurimath cum cant. 

alaiagham. Eulogiimi Hi 

B (Roll* Sor.); Jiobert of Areshury, eil. 

krne; Knighton, ed. Twjsden; Stow* An- 

; O. le Uakur, ad. Qilua; Sloani^ U.S,S. jQ 

I3S; Archawlogio.iiU. "li- x»»ii.; Rolls 

r PnrHnnirnt : Rymtr'! KiT'lcra, Beoonl ed. ; 

i"!ti It- f"? •■■' ''•■I'li'i ■ I'Vti'^i.irt, ed. Lui^onnd 

■■■I 1 . y ■■ ■ •• ^■iiiodu H^raut, 

ti ' ' ' . I'lu da Bortrand 

l-ii.riadi Matteo 
ii„M' .:- l: ■■.., !■■: -.xiv. For the 
r Poilicf, M"m.>irfs da lu Sociit.i daa 
\tm da ruuBBl, viiL. 6», xi. 16. For the 
campaign, LapoE da AyaU'a Crunicai do 
m da Ca-tilU, «J. 1T7B. For other ra- 
aae undor I^dwahd 111, id tait of above 
1 in UiB notes of JL Luoa'aFroisBw'-l 
W. 11. 

jyWASS}, Priwe ay Witss (1453- 
|(7I), only son of Hfury VI, waa bom at 
'foatminaluron 13 Ucl. 1 453, eightyean" after 
ja falhcr'a marriajre wi 1 li M argaret of Aniou, 
Bdtlicdnybi^ingthatof tlLPlranslationnf St. 
^V'unj tBu King and Cpiifi-ssor, he received 
i» tuunu if l-^fwanl at baptism. lie was 
MptUed hi tliabop Wayiifleet; Cardinal 
nkod^Miniiiia,duke of Someraut, 




his goUfatlura, and Anne, docln'sa of Buck- 
ingham, was his godmother. His father's 
faculties were at the titno clouded by an 
illness which had begun in August. At the 
beginning of January 14,i4 an ineffectual 
attempt was made to bring the child under 
the unhappy parent's notice. The babe was 
created l*rinoe of Wales on Whitsunday, 
9 June 1454. The government meanwhile 
had passed from the nauds of Somerset into 
those of the Duke of York, who was ap- 
pointed protector during the king's imbeci- 
lity, with a proviso that he ahoiild give up 
his charge to the Prince of Wnlea if the 
latter should be willing to undertake it when 
he attained years of discretion (KulU of Pari. 
V. 343). But next Christmas the king re- 
covered, and on 30 Dec. the queen again 
brought to him his child, now more than n 
twelvemonth old. He asked his name, and, 
being told Edward, held up his hands and 
thanked Ood. The king's recovery only led 
the removal of the protector, the realora- 
'InetHcient ministers, distrust, and civil 
The king again fell ill, and York was 
protector; the kingagain recovered, and 
was again removed. For seven years 

During this unsettled period the prinea 
ks continually with his mother, who tried 
keep tht? government entirely in her own 
ndc. Il waa insinuated by the Yorkista 
that her child was not King Henry's ; while 
she, on the otlierliand, actually sounded some 
of the lords as to the advisability of getting 
her husband to resign the crown in his favour. 
In the spring of 1466, after York's first re- 
moval from the protBctorship. she took him 
into the north to Tutbury, while the Ynrki?t 
lords at Sandall and Warwick kept watch 
what she would do. In 1469, when 
the Yorkists were for a time overthrown, a 
provision was made fur him in parliament 
as Prince of Wales (liolb< nf Fart. v. 356). 
In 1460 he was with bis father aud mother 
at Coventry just before the battle of North- 
ampton ; and there the king on departing 
for the field took leave of him and the queen, 
desiring the latter for her safety not to come 
to bim again in obedience to any message, 
unless he sent her a secret token known only 
to themselvea. The day was lost for Henry, 
and M argaret, who had withdrawn to Eccles- 
hall, fled further with her son to Chester, 
and from tlipnee into Wales, being attacked 
and robbed on the way, near Malpas, by a 
dependeut of ber own whom she had put ir 
trust as an officer of some kind to the prince 
The two reached Harlech Castle with only 
our attendants, and afterward* stole away 
naccret to join the king'shaif-brothor, Jasper, 



Edward 



I02 



Edward 



earl of Pembroke. They were in Wales in 
October, just before the Duke of York made 
his claim to the crown in parliament, which 
was settled at the time by a compromise that 
the duke should succeed on Henry's death. 
Prince Edward was thus disinhented ; but 
his mother refused to recognise the parlia- 
mentary settlement, and arranged secretly 
with a number of friends for a great meeting 
at Hull. It appears, however, that she herself 
and her son fled from Wales by sea to Scot- 
land, and that while the Duke of York was 
defeated and slain by her adherents at Wake- 
field on 30 Dec, they had a meeting in 
January with the queen widow of James II 
at Lincluden Abbey, near Dumfries, where 
they all stayed together ten or twelve days, 
and arranged for mutual aid against the 
house of York. The surrender of Berwick to 
the Scots had already been agreed on ; and 
there was some negotiation for a marriage 
between the Prince of Wales and Princess 
Mary, daughter of James II (Auchinleck 
Chronicle, 21 ; Wavkin, ed. Dupont, ii. 301). 
This interview over, Margaret returned south- 
wards with her son, ana joining her already 
victorious followers in Yorkshire pursued her 
way towards London as far as St. Albans. 
Here they were met on 17 Feb. 1461 by the 
Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Warwick, ^and 
others, who brought with them King Henry, 
virtually a prisoner in their hands ; and a 
battle ensued (the second battle of St. Al- 
bans), in wliicli Margaret's party was once 
more successful. The victors wore the prince's 
liverv — a btind of crimson and black with 
ostrich feathers. The king was recaptured 
by his wife's adherents, and made his son a 
knight upon tlie battle-field. The distinction 
was apparently considered due to a prince 
who in his eighth year had witnessed an 
engagement ; for the only action recorded 
of him that day is, that after the battle he 
ordered Sir Thomas Kiriel to be b(?headed. 
The queen, his mother, it is said, asked him 
what death was to be inflicted on Sir Thomas 
and his son, and the boy in answer proposed 
decapitation ; on which the sentence was 
executed before both the prince and his 
mother (Wavrix, Chronicf/iteft cCEmjleterre, 
ed. Dupont, ii. 265). Other accounts are 
silent aoout Sir Thomas Kiriel's son, and say 
that Kiriel died in the field, and that it was 
Ijord Bonvile on whom the prince pronounced 
judgment (Gregory, Chronicle, 212). It was 
at night after the battle that, as we are told, 
* the king blessed his son the prince, and Dr. 
Morton brought forth a book that was full 
of orisons, and there the book was opened, 
and blessed that young child " cum pingue- 
dine terrse et cum rore coeli, and made him 



knight.' The lad wore a pair of brigantines 
covered with purple velvet , * i-bete with golde- 
smythe ys worke,' and being so exalted con- 
ferred the dignity of knighthood upon others, 
of whom the first was Sir Andrew Trollope 
(ib, 214). Dr. Morton, who was afterwards 
cardinal and archbishop of Canterbury, was 
at this time chancellor to the young prince 
{ib, 218). But the Duke of York's son Ed- 
ward came speedily to protect London against 
the Lancastrians, tie was proclaimed king* 
on 4 March, and pursuing the queen's forces 
againintoYorkshuresecuredhisposition upon 
the throne by the bloody victory of Towtori. 
Margaret ana her son fled once more into 
Scotland, this time with the king her husband 
in her company, though it seems that he was 
for a short time besieged in some Yorkshire 
fortress. They first reached Newcastle and 
then Berwick, which, according to agreement, 
they delivered up to the Scots. Of course 
they were both attainted in Edward's first 
parliament which met in November {Bolls 
of Pari. v. 479). In the course of that year 
Henry VI was at Kirkcudbright, and Mar- 
garet and her son at Edinburgh, where appa- 
rently she organised a scheme for the simul- 
taneous invasion of England in three places, 
to take place at Candlemas following {Pas- 
ton Letters, ii. 91 ; Three Fifteenth-century 
Chronicles, Camden Soc.158). Nothing, how- 
ever, seems to have come of this, and in 
April 1462 Margaret took shipping at Kirk- 
cudbright, and sailed through the Irish Chan- 
nel to Brittany, where she met with a kind 
reception from the duke with a gift of twelve 
thousand crowns, then passed on to her father 
in Anjou, and from him to Louis XI. Her 
son had certainly left Scotland with her, and 
was in France along with her (Richard de 
Wasskbourg, Antiquitis de la Gaule Bel- 
gique, f. 610). On 23 June 14(^2, at Chinoii, 
she executed a bond for the delivery of Calais 
to the French in return for aid which she 
was to receive from Louis against Edward. 
Louis gave her a fleet with which she sailed 
from N^ormandy, again accompanied by her 
son, and landed again in Scotland in October. 
Next month she gained possession of some 
castles in Northumberland, but hearing of 
the approach of King Edward with a large 
force she sailed for France, but was driven 
back by tempest t o l}erwick,which she reached 
with difficulty after being shipwrecked ofl;* 
the coast. The castles were recovered by 
King Edward, and at the beginning of 14(f3 
the cause of the house of Lancaster was in a 
more hopeless state than ever. 

This was the time when Margaret and her 
son met with that celebrated adventure re- 
corded by the continuator of Monstrelet, 



Edward 



103 



Edward 



vrhen wandering about they lost themselTes 
in a forest and were attacked by robbers, who 
stripped them of all their jewels and after- 
wan^ fought amon^themselyes for the booty. 
Margaret, seizing ner advantage, fave her 
son to one of the brigands and said, ' Here, 
my friend, save the son of your king I * The 
conclusion of the story is thus related by 
the chronicler : ' The brigand took him with 
Tery good will, and they departed, so that 
shortly after they came by sea to Sluys. And 
from Sluys she went to Bruges, her son 
still with her, where she was received very 
honourably, while her husband. King Henry, 
was in Wales, in one of the strongest places 
in England ' (Monsteelet, iii. 96, ed. 1595). 
That she and her son, and her husband also 
whon they were together, had suffered very 
great distress, is attested by another writer 
of the time, who says that the three had been 
once ^ye days witnout any food but a her- 
ring (Chastellain, iv. 299, ed. Brussels, 
1863). But a slight improvement had taken 
place in the fortune of war before she crossed 
the sea, for she sailed from Bamborough, 
which must have been by that time again 
recovered for the house of Lancaster, as it 
was for some months at least. On her land- 
ing at Sluys she was received by the Count 
of Charolois (afterwards Charles the Bold), 
and conducted by him to his father, Philip, 
duke of Burgundy, at Lille, who relieved 
her with money. She then went to her 
father, Ren^, in Lorraine, with whom she 
remained for some years watching the course 
of events in hope of better fortune, while 
her husband fell into the hands of Edward 
and was imprisoned in the Tower. During 
this period she and her son the prince, re- 
siding at St. Mihiel in Barrois, received a 
communication from the Earl of Ormonde, 
who had taken refuge in Portugal, by which 
they were encouraged to hope that the king of 
Portugal would assist in restoring Henry v I 
to the throne ; but nothing appears to have 
come of their efforts to engage his sympa- 
thies. In May 1467 the Duke of Milan's am- 
bassador mentions Margaret and her son as 
being still in Lorraine ( Venetian CaL vol. i. 
No. 405). A letter of the French ambas- 
sador in England, dated 16 Jan. following, 
speaks of the great alarm excited among 
Kd ward's frienas by a report that overtures 
had been made for the marriage of the Prince 
of Wales to one of Louis Al's daughters 
( Jehax de Wavrix, ed. Dupont, iii. 190). In 
1470 the prince stood godfather to Louis's 
son, afterwards Charles VIII of France, who 
was bom on dO June at Amboise. Just after 
this (15 July) a meeting took place at An- 
gers of Louis XI, Margaret of Anjou, and 



her father King Kentf, the prince, and the 
Earl of Warwick, at which Margaret was 
induced to forgive the earl for his past con- 
duct and consent to the marriage of her son 
with his second daughter, Anne, in order to 
have his assistance against Edward IV. The 
young lady, who was also then at Angers, 
was placed in Margaret's custody till the 
marriage should take effect, which was not 
to be till Warwick had recovered the king- 
dom, or the most part of it, for Henry ; and 
when that took place the prince was to be 
regent in behalf of his father, whose incom- 
petence to rule was now past dispute. A 
plan was then arranged with Louis for the 
immediate invasion of England, and was 
ratified by the oaths of the parties in St. 
Mary's Church at Angers. 

Warwick presently sailed with the expe- 
dition, and was so successful that in October 
Edward IV was driven out of the kingdom 
and Henry VI restored. But unhappily for 
the Lancastrian cause, Margaret and ner son 
forbore to cross the sea till March following, 
and King Edward, having set sail for Eng- 
land again three weeks before them, had 
practically recovered his kingdom by the 
time they set foot in it. For although they 
embarked at Honfleur on 24 March, and 
might with a favourable breeze have reached 
the English coast in twelve hours, they were 
beaten by contrary winds for seventeen days 
and nights, and only reached Weymouth om 
the evening of 14 April, the very day the 
battle of Bomet was fought and the Earl of 
Warwick slain. They proceeded to Ceme 
Abbey, where they learned on the 15th the 
news of this great reverse ; but the Duke 
of Somerset and other friends who came 
thither to welcome them on their arrival 
encouraged them to relv on the loyalty of 
the western counties, wliich were ready to 
rise at once in their behalf. They accordingly 
issued orders for a general muster and pro- 
ceeded westward to Exeter; then having 
collected a considerable force advanced to 
Bristol. King Edward was now on his way 
to meet them, but was uncertain whether 
they intended to march on London or draw 
northwards by the borders of Wales to 
Cheshire, and they contrived to deceive him 
as to their movements while they passed on 
to Gloucester, where, however, they were 
denied entrance by Lord Beauchamp. They 
were thus compelled to continue their march 
to Tewkesburv, where they arrived much 
fatigued on tte afternoon of 3 May, and 
pitched their camp before the town in a 
position well secured by * foul lanes, deep 
dykes, and many hedges.' The king that even- 
ing reached Cheltenham, and next morning, 



Edward 



104 



Edward 



4 May, coming to Tewkesbury, arranged- 
his army for battle. They first opened fire 
on the enemy with ordnance and a shower 
of arrows, till the Duke of Somerset un- 
wisely carried his men out of their more 
secure position and brought them by certain 
bypaths on to a hill in front of Edward's 
van. Here,* while engaging the kinff's forces 
in front, they were suddenly attacked in flank 
by a detachment of two hundred spears told 
off by Edward before the battle to guard 
against a possible ambush in a wood. Thus 
Somerset's men were thrown into confusion, 
and very soon the rest of the Lancastrian 
forces were broken and put to flight. 

The Prince of Wales had been put in no- 
minal command of the * middle ward * of this 
army, but he acted under the advice of two 
experienced oflicers. Sir John Longstruther, 
prior of the knights of St. John, and Lord 
vVenlock. When Somerset first moved from 
his position he seems to have reckoned on 
being followed by Lord Wenlock in an attack 
on Edward's van. But Wenlock stood still 
and simply looked on, till Somerset returning 
called him traitor and dashed his brains out 
with a battle-axe. Sir John Longstruther fled 
and took refuge in the abbey, and the Prince 
of Wales, flying towards the town, appealed 
for protection to his brother-in-law Clarence. 
In what mav be called an official account of 
Edward IV^ recovery of his kingdom, it is 
said that the prince was slain in the field; but 
a more detailed ac<iount written in the next 
generation says that he was taken prisoner by 
a knight named Sir Kichard Croft es, who de- 
livered him up to King Edward on the faith 
of a proclamation issued after the battle, that 
whoever brought him to the king alive or 
dead should have an annuity of 100/., and 
that the prince's life should be saved. Yet 
the promise was shamefully violated, if not 
by tlie king himself, at least by those about 
him ; for when the young man was brought 
before him Edward first inquired of him 
* how he durst so presumptuously enter his 
realm with banner displayed ? ' The prince 
replied, * To recover my fathers kingdom,' 
and Edward, we are told, * with his hand 
thrust him from him, or, as some say, struck 
him with his gauntlet,' on which the Dukes 
of Clarence and Gloucester, the Marquis of 
Dorset, and Lord Hastings, who stood by, 
at once assassinated him. It seems to have 
been regarded as a favour that the king 
allowed him honourable burial. 

Thus fell Edward, ])rince of Wales, who 
is described as 'a goodly feminine and a 
well-featured young gentleman,' in the eigh- 
teenth ^ear of his age. His intended bride, 
Anne ^evill| whom the writers of that day 



call his wife, was taken ^soner a^er the 
battle, and a little lat«r became the wife of 
Kichard, duke of Gloucester [see Anne, 
queen of Richard III]. 

[An English Ghromcle, ed. Davies (CAmd. 
Soc.) ; Fasten Letters ; Wil. Wyrcester, Annales ; 
Collections of a Londoi;i Citizen (Camd. See.); 
Three Fifteenth-century Chronicles (Camd. Soc.); 
Burnett's Exchequer Bolls of Scotland, vol. vii. 
(Scotch Kecord Fablications) ; Anchiennos Cro- 
nieques d'Eugleterre par Jehan de Wavrin (Dn- 
pont's edit.) ; Eegistrum J. Whethamstede, ed. 
Kiley (Rolls Series); Leland's Collectaneji, ii. 
498-9 ; He^rne's Fragment (after Sprott), 304 ; 
Hist. Croyland. Contin. in Fulman's Scriptores, 
i. 533, 550, 553, 555 ; Ellis's Letters, 2nd ser. i. 
132-5; Clermont's Fortescue, i. 22-31 ; Fabyan's 
Chronicle ; Hall's Chronicle ; Polydore Vergil.] 

J. G. 

EDWARD, Eakl of Wabwick (1475- 
1499), was the eldest son of George, duke of 
Clarence, brother of Edward IV, by his wufe 
Isabel, daughter of Richard Nevill, earl of 
Warwick, *the kingmaker.' The first two 
children of that marriage were both daughters, 
of whom the eldest was bom at sea in the 
spring of 1470 (when Lord Wenlock, com- 
manding at Calais,woiild not allow his parents 
to land), but died an infant and was buried at 
Calais. The second was Margaret, bom at 
Castle Farley, near Bath, in August 1473, 
who was afterwards Countess of Salisbury 
and fell a victim to Henry VIIFs tvrannv. 
This Edward, the first son, was bom at War- 
wick Castle on 21 Feb. 1475. The last child, 
another son, named Richard, was bom in 1476 
and died on 1 Jan. 1477, not a quarter of a year 
old. lie and his mother, who died shortly 
before him, were said to have been poisoned, 
■ for -which some of the household servants of 
the duke and duchess were tried and put to 
death (Third Iteport of the Dej). -Keeper of 
Public HecordSy app. ii. 214). 

As the Duke of Clarence was put to death 
on 1 8 Feb. 1478, when this Edward was barely 
three years old, he was left from that tender 
age without either father or mother, and his 
nearest relation, after his sister Margaret, 
was his aunt, Anne, duchess of Gloucester, 
afterwards queen by the usurpation of Ri- 
chard III. How much care she bestowed 
upon him does not appear. The first thing 
we hear about him, however, is that when 
only eight years old King Richard knighted 
him along with his own son at York in 1483. 
Next year the usurper, having lost his only 
son, thought of making him his heir, but on 
further consideration shut him up in close 
confinement in Sheriff Hutton Castle, and 
nominated John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, 
to succeed to the throne. In 1486, after Uie 



Edward 



loS 



Edward 



i)attle of Bosworth, Henry VII sent Sir Ro- 
bert Willouffhby to Sheriff Hutton to bring 
this Edwara ui to London, where he was 
impriisoned in the Tower for the rest of his 
days for no other crime than being the son 
of Clarence. 

This injustice was resented by many. It 
was feared from the first that the kinff had 
a design of putting the young man to death, 
and tne partisans of the house of York 
eagerly spread abroad rumours that he had 
escaped from the Tower, or that one of the 
sons of Edward IV was still alive to wrest 
the sceptre from a usurper. Yet another 
rumour said that Warwick had actually died 
in prison, and it was probably from some be- 
lief in this report that Simnel was induced 
to personate tne earl in Ireland in the early 
part of 1487. The conspiracy had been art- 
fully got up, the news of Warwick's being 
in Ireland being spread at the same time in 
the Low Countries by the Earl of Lincoln, 
who escaped thither in the beginning of 
Lent, and professed that he had been in daily 
consultation with the earl at Sheen just be- 
fore his departure (Leland, Collectanea, iv. 
209). The impostor was crowned in Ireland, 
and the air was so full of false rumours that 
the king found it advisable to cause the 
true earl one Sunday to be taken out of the 
Tower and pass through the streets in pro- 
cession to St. Paul's, where he heard mass 
and publicly conversed with several other 
noblemen. 

Warwick thus owed to his counterfeit a 
day's comparative liberty, and it seems to 
have been the last day of his life that he 
passed beyond the limits of the Tower. There 
ne remained in prison for the next twelve 
years. Cut off from all human intercourse 
from his boyhood, and debarred even from 
the siffht 01 common objects, it was said 
' that he could not discern a goose from a 
capon.' Y'et the mere fact that he lived must 
have been a cause of anxiety to Henry VII, 
as it had already been the cause of one Y orkist 
insurrection, when Perkin Warbeck appeared 
upon the scene and personated one of the 
murdered sons of Edward IV. The adven- 
tures of Perkin, however, did not tend to 
make Warwick more formidable, and for two 
years after that impostor was lodged in the 
Tower nothing further was done to nim. But 
unhappily another counterfeit arose in the 
interval. In 1498 or early in 1499 a young 
man named Italph Wiltord, educated for 
the part by an Austin canon, repeated the 
performance of Simnel in personating War- 
wick, for which both he and his tutor were 
fnt to execution on Shrove Tuesday, 12 Feb. 
499. 



A few months after this Perkin Warbeck 
made an attempt to corrupt his gaolers and 
draw them into a plot for the liberation of 
himself and the Earl of Warwick, who, being 
informed of the project, very naturally agreed 
to it for his own advantage. The matter, 
however, was soon disclosed, and Perkin and 
his confederates were tried and condemned 
at Westminster on 16 Nov. and executed at 
Tyburn on the 23rd. On the 2l8t Warwick 
was arraigned before the Earl of Oxford as 
high constable of England, not, as some 
writers have told us, for having attempted 
to break prison, but on the pretence that he 
had conspired with others to depose the 
king. Acting either on mischievous advice, 
or, as many supposed, in mere simplicity 
from his total ignorance of the world, the 
poor lad pleaded guilty, and was accordingly 
condemned to death. lie was beheaded on 
Tower Hill on the 28th, a week after his 
sentence. It was reported that his death 
was due in great measure to Ferdinand^of 
Spain, who refused to give his daughter to 
Prince Arthur as long as the succession might 
be disputed in behalf of the son of Clarence, 
and there seems some degree of truth in the 
statement. The Spanish ambassador's des- 
patches show that ne attached much impor- 
tance to this execution (Gaikdner, Letters 
ofBichard III and Henry VII, i. 113-14) ; 
and many years afterwards, when Cathe- 
rine of Arragon felt bitterly the cruelty of 
Henry VIH in seeking a divorce from ner, 
she oDserved, according to Lord Bacon, 'that 
it was a judgment of God, for that her former 
marriage w^as made in blood, meaning that 
of the Earl of Warwick.' 

Warwick's attainder was reversed in the 
following reign by statute 5 Henry VIII, c. 12, 
which was passed, at the instance of his sister 
Margaret, countess of Salisbury ; and the 
words of the petition embodied in the act are 
remarkable as showing how plainly the injus- 
tice of his execution was acknowledged even 
in those days of tyranny. * Which Edward, 
most gracious sovereign lord, was always 
from nis childhood, being of the age of 
eight years, until the time of his decease, re- 
maining and kept in ward and restrained 
from his liberty, as well within the Tower of 
London as in other places, having none ex- 
perience nor knowledge of the worldly poli- 
cies, nor of the laws of this realm, so that, 
if any offence were by him done ... it was 
rather by innocency than of any malicious 
purpose. Indeed, the very records of his 
trial give us much the same impression, for 
they snow that the ridiculous plot with which 
he was charged, to seize the Tower and make 
himself king, was put into his head by one 



Edward 



1 06 



Edward 



Robert Cleymound, evidently an informer, 
who was allowed to visit liim in prison. 

[Rows Roll, 68, 60; Jo. Rossi Historia Re^m, 
ed. Hearne ; Polydoro Vorgil ; Hall's Chronicle ; 
Third Report of Dep.-Keeper of Public Records, 
app. ii. 216 ; statute 19 Hen. VII, c. 34.] J. G. 

EDWARD, DAFYDD (<?. 1690). [See 
David, Edwakd.] 

EDWARD, THOMAS (1814-1886), the 
Banff naturalist, was bom at Gosport on 
25 Dec. 1814, his father, a hand-loom linen 
weaver, being a private in the Fifeshire militia, 
which was temporarily stationed there. His 
early years were spent at Kettle, near Cupar, 
and at Aberdeen. From childhood he was 
passionately fond of animals, and brought 
Lome so many out-of-the-way creatures that 
he was frequently flogged and confined to the 
house. But even at five years old he proved 
utterly unmanageable. At the age of six he 
had been turned out of three schools in con- 
sequence of his zoological propensities. He 
was then set to work at a tobacco factory in 
Aberdeen, at fourteen-pence a week. Two 
years later Edward got employment at a fac- 
tory two miles from Aberdeen, and his walks 
to and from work gave further scope to his 
taste for natural iiistory. At the age of 
eleven he was apprenticed to a shoemaker 
in Aberdeen for six years, but left his service 
after three years, because of the cruel treat- 
ment he received. After this he worked 
under other employers, with inter\'als of ec- 
centric expeditions, militia service (when he 
narrowly escaped punishment for breaking 
from the ranks in pursuit of a fine butterfly), 
and enlistment in the 60th rifles, from which 
his mother's entreaties and eflbrts got him ott*. 

At the age of twenty Edward settled at 
Banfl* to work at his trade. He had alreadv 
taken in the * Penny Magazine ' from its first 
issue in 1832, and found in it some informa- 
tion on natural history. He had learnt 
something from seeing pictures on Aberdeen 
bookstalls and 8tufl*ea animals in shop win- 
dows. At twenty-three he married a cheer- 
ful and faithful young woman named Sophia 
Reid, when his earnings were less than ten 
shillings a week. Marriage enabled him to 
become a collector, by giving him for the first 
time a place where he could keep specimens. 
Without friends, without a single book on 
natural history, not knowing the names of 
the creatures he found, he gained a knowledge 
unique in its freshness and accuracv. Every 
living thing had a fascination for liim. He 
devoted numberless nights to wanderings, 
during which he went about or rested as one 
of themselves among nocturnal creatures. 
Wild animals for the most part moved freely 



about in his neighbourhood. He became 
acquainted with the sounds and movements 
of many animals which were unknown before. 
But he sometimes formed their acquaintance 
in terrific encounters, one with a polecat 
lasting two hours. An hour or two s sleep 
on open heaths, in old buildings, on rocks by 
the sea, was often his only rest; and his con- 
stitution was enfeebled by rheumatism caught 
in such expeditions. Gradually he accumu- 
lated a representative collection of animals, 
all stuflect or prepared by his own hands. 
Once a series of nearly a thousand insects, the 
result of four years' work, was totally de- 
stroyed by rat« or mice. By 1846 he pos- 
sessed nearly two thousand species of animals, 
besides many plants. All the cases were made 
by himself. 

Hoping to gain a little money, Edward ex- 
hibited his coUection at the BanfiT fair in May 
1845. This was successful, and he repeated 
it a year after, and then resolved to exhibit 
at Aberdeen in August 1846. But at Aber- 
deen, as the professors told him, he was 
* several centuries too soon.' They had neither 
a public museum nor a free library. He was 
even met with much incredulity, few believ- 
ing that he could have made the collection 
unaided. He had spent his small funds and 
got into debt. Overcome by despair he one 
day went to the seashore to commit suicide ; 
but the sight of an unknown bird excited him 
to pursue it, and drove away his resolve. At 
last he was compelled to sell his entire col- 
lection for 20/. lOs. to a gentleman, who stowed 
it in a damp place, where it went to ruin. 

Returning nome penniless, Edward set to 
work manfully at his trade, at which he was 
very proficient, and refrained from night ex- 

f editions througliout the succeeding winter, 
n the spring he resumed his old manner of 
life, going further afield at times, and carry- 
ing with him, to excuse his use of a gun, an 
elaborate certificate of harmlessness si^ed 
by sixteen magistrates. He ran many risks, 
got frightful falls on clifls, was drenched in 
storms, and falling ill had to sell many of 
his newer specimens to support his family. 
Meanwhile some books on natural history 
had been lent to him by the Rev. James 
Smith of Monquhitter, near Banff*, who per- 
suaded him to record some of his observations. 
Many of his notes on natural history were 
inserted in the * Banffshire Journal.' His 
friend Mr. Smith in 18*50 began to send notices 
of Edward's observations to the * Zoologist.' 
These included detailed accounts of the 
habits and behaviour of birds which remind 
readers of Audubon. The deaths in 1854 of 
both Mr. Smith and another minister, Mr. 
Boyd of Crimond, who had set Edward on 



Edward 



107 



Edwardes 



the task of preparing popular lectures on the 
rudiments of natural history, were heavy 
blows to Edward. He now sought some 
better employment in all likely mrections, 
but could secure nothing. He had begun 
contributing to several natural history jour- 
nals, but received no payments in return. 
By 1858, however, Edwara had accumulated 
a third collection, the best he had made. 
Illness again prostrated him, and when he 
partially recovered, though remaining in- 
capable of undergoing long and fatiguing ex- 
peditions again, a great part of his collection 
bad to be sold. Having to abandon night 
wanderings and give up his gun, Edward 
took to marine zoology in earnest. In default 
of proper apparatus he devised most ingenious 
substitutes ; and as the result of his mvesti- 
gations Spence Bate and Westwood's * His- 
tory of British Sessile-eyed Crustacea ' enu- 
merates twenty new species discovered by 
Edward, who had collected 177 species in the 
Moray Firth. In other branches of marine 
zoology Edward furnished manv facts, speci- 
mens, and new species to Messrs. Gwyn 
Jeffreys, Alder, A. M. Norman, Jonathan 
Coucn, and many others. He had, however, 
obtained no scientific recognition more im- 
portant than a curatorship of the museum of 
the Banff Institution, at a salary of two 
guineas a year, until in 1866 he was elected 
an associate of the Linnean Society of Lon- 
don. The Aberdeen and the Glasgow Natural 
History societies followed suit ; but the Banff 
society did not elect their notable townsman 
an honorary member. The society itself de^ 
servedly died in 1876. The museum being 
transferred to the Banff town coimcil, Ed- 
ward was continued as curator at thirteen 
guineas a year, but resigned the office in 
188l>. 

A serious illness in 1868 left Edward 
almost incapable of following his trade, but 
he afterwaras recovered sufficiently to resume 
work at home. The publication of Mr. 
Smiles*s biography of Edward in 1876 was 
the means ot makmg Edward widelv known, 
and of making him comfortable in his latter 
days. Sir Joseph Hooker, P.R.S., Professors 
AUman and Owen, and Mr. Darwin joined 
in appealing to the queen on Edward's behalf. 
On Cliristmas day 1876 Edward received 
the welcome news of the bestowal of a civil 
list pension of 50/. On 21 March 1877 he 
was presented with 333/., largely subscribed 
in Aberdeen, at a meeting in the Aberdeen 
Song School, at which the veteran, with his 
&ithful wife, was received with enthusiasm, 
and delivered a most racy speech in broad 
vernacular (see Aberdeen JVeekly Journal, 
28 March 1877). Other donations of con- 



siderable amount were sent to him. He now 
entered with extraordinary zeal upon the 
study of botany, and collected nearly every 
plant in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire. Whea 
the Banffshire Field Club was established in 
1880, Edward was elected one of its vice- 
presidents, and read before it papers on the 
* Protection of Wild Birds ' and on ' Our 
Reptiles,' which were printed by the society. 
Edward died on 27 April 1886. ' He left one 
son, a minister in the Scotch church, and tea 
daughters. 

[Life by S. Smiles, 1876; Nature (1877), xv. 
349-61, 430, 479, (1886) zxziii. 609 ; Aberdeen 
Weekly Journal, 28 March 1877; Banffshire 
Journal, 4 May 1886.] G. T. B. 

EDWARDES, Sir HERBERT BEN- 
JAMIN (1819-1868), Indian official, second 
son of the Rev. B. Edwardes, bom at Frodes- 
ley, Shropshire, 12 Nov. 1819,was of an ancient 
Cambrian family, the head of which was made 
a baronet by Charles II. The mother dying 
during his infancy Edwardes was taken charge 
of by an aunt, and sent in his tenth year to a 
private school at Richmond, where he failed 
to distinguish himself either as a scholar or 
as an athlete. In 1837 he began to attend 
classes at King*s College, London, where also 
he made but moderate progress in classics 
and mathematics, although more successful 
in modem languages and a prominent member 
of the debating society. He also displayed 
a turn for drawing and wrote English verse. 
Checked in a desire to enter the university 
of Oxford, he obtained a cadetship in the 
Bengal infantry by personal application to a 
member of the court of directors. Sir R. Jen- 
kins. He proceeded direct to India without 
Sassing through the company's military aca- 
emy, and landed in Calcutta early in 1841. 
An observer of that day (Lieutenant-colonel 
Leigh) describes him as then slight and deli- 
cate-looking, with fully formed features and 
an expression of bright mtelligence; not given 
to the active amusements by which most 
young men of his class and nation are wont 
to speed the hours, but abounding in mental 
accomplishment and resource. He was in 
garrison at Kamal,then a frontier station, in 
July 1842, a second lieutenant in the 1st 
Europeans or Bengal fusiliers, now the 1st 
battalion royal Munster fusiliers. Although 
the languages of the East were not necessary 
to an oiiicer so emploved, Edwardes's habits 
of study were by this time strong, and h© 
soon came to the front as a linguist, passing 
examinations in Urdu, Hindi, and Persian. 
In little more than three years after join- 
ing his regiment he was pronounced duly 
qualified for the post of * interpreter.' The 



Edwardes 



1 08 



Edwardes 



regiment now moved to Sabathu, where he 
began a series of papers in a local journal, 
the * Delhi Gazette/ which, under the title of 
^ Letters of Brahminee Bull in India to his 
cousin John in England/ attracted a good 
deal of attention among the Anglo-Indian 
community. Henry Lawrence, then British 
resident at the court of Khatmandu, was 
especially struck with the bold political 
•opinions and clear high-spirited style of the 
young subaltern ; and Sir Hu^h Gough, the 
commander-in-chief of the Indian army, with 
a sagacity not always shown in such cases, 
selected Edwardes as a member of his per- 
sonal staiF. The headquarters shortly after- 
wards taking the field for the first Punjab 
campaign, Edwardes. was present as an aide- 
de-camp to Sir Hugh at the bloody fights of 
Moodkee and Sobraon. 

On the conclusion of the war he obtained 
Lis first civil employment. Henry Lawrence 
was posted at Lahore as resident British 
minister with the durbar, or council of re- 
gency, and in that capacity undertook the 
task, generous if premature, of teaching the 
races of the Punjab the art of self-govern- 
ment. Edwardes was made one of Lawrence's 
assistants on the request of the latter, and was 
deputed to carry out the undertaking in one 
of the outlying districts. It was early in 
1847 when Edwardes began the reform of 
civil administration in Bunnoo (Banu, as now 
«pelt by the Indian government), a trans- 
Indus valley bordering on the territory of 
the Afghans and mainly peopled by tribes 
connected with that nation. Backed by a 
small handy force of Sikh soldiers, he soon 
made his mark. The numerous fortresses scat- 
tered about the valley were demolished, roads 
-were made, canals excavated, local feuds ap- 
peased. Fortunate so far, no doubt the young 
district officer owed as much to his own 
tonalities as to opportunity ; and his personal 
infiucnce was soon acknowledged universally 
Among tlie rough and wild, but simple, popu- 
lation. Similar victories of peace were at the 
«ame time being won by Abbott in Hazara, 
by Lumsden in the Yusafzai country, and by 
John Nicholson at Rawal Pindi. But the 
well-spring whence this knot of remarkable 
men derived their inspiration was undoubtedly 
Lawrence, and that spring was to be closed, 
for the moment, by his departure for Europe. 
His substitute was no match for Asiatic craft 
■and intrigue. In April 1843 the unhappy 
mission of Patrick Alexander Vans Agnew 
[q. v.] and Anderson to Multan, ending in 
the murder of those two officers, by the orders 
or connivance of Mulraj, fired latent elements 
of combustion. Edwardes at once grappled 
-with the conflagration. Spontaneously, with- 



out British aid or companionship, at first 
without either money or material, he raised 
a body of armed tribesmen, and rapidly formed 
a fairly disciplined and faithful force. Calling 
to his aid the nawab, or Muhamadan prince, 
of the neighbouring native state of Baha- 
walpur, he also established communications 
with the officer commanding for the durbar 
of Lahore, Colonel van Cortland t. On 1 Jime 
he received full permission from Lahore to 
act on his own judgment and responsibility. 
On the 18th of the same month he routed the 
rebel troops at Kineyri, near Dehra Ghazi 
Khan. On 3 July, having been joined by 
Lake, a neighbouring district officer, and 
further reinforced from Bahawalpur, he in- 
flicted on the enemy a second defeat at Sadu- 
sam, in front of Miutan. The Biwan Mulraj 
fell back upon the town and fort, and never 
left their shelter imtil General Whish, with 
the Bombay column, arrived and invest^ the 
place. Edwardes took an active part in the 
siege that followed, and on 22 Jan. 1849 be- 
came the medium of the beaten chiefs sur- 
render. The 8er\'ices and suflerings of Agnew 
and Anderson were commemorated b v a monu- 

m.' 

ment erected by their colleagues, * the sur- 
viving assistants,' and the inscription was 
from Edwardes's pen. 

Edwardes's own share in these occurrences 
met with swift acknowledgment. H. Law- 
rence, who had long since returned to India, 
declared that * since the davs of Clive no man 
had done as Edwardes.' Young, alone, un- 
trained in military science and unversed in 
active war, he had organised victory and 
rolled back rebellion. This was, indeed, the 
high-water mark of Edwardes's life and for- 
tune. Distinguished as were some of his 
later deeds, it is on this, most of all, that his 
fame must ever rest. From Sir H. Gough 
and from the government of India he received 
prompt and hearty commendation. At the 
instance of the board of control the queen 
declared him a brevet major and a companion 
of the Bath, honours rarely, if ever, attained 
by any subaltern before, and the East India 
Company presented him with a gold medal, 
struck specially for the purpose, of which the 
mould was immediately destroyed. In January 
1850 he returned to England, and there found 
himself the lion of the hour. He was warmly 
received in his native county of Shropshire. 
From the university of Oxford he received the 
degree of D.C.Ii. In London and at Liver- 
pool ho was publicly entertained, and ex- 
hibited on both occasions a gift of ready and 
graceful oratory. In July he married Emma, 
daughter of James Sidney of Richmond. Be- 
fore the end of the year he brought out his 
book, ' A Year on the Punjab Frontier/ in 



Edwardes 



109 



Edwardes 



which he described hia adventures, not without 
due mention of Lake and Cortlandt, and the 
Prince of Baha walpur. In the spring of 1 851 
he returned to India, and on arrival found a 
new sphere of civil duty in the deputy- 
commissionership of the newly created Bri- 
tish district of Jullunder (Jalandhar). In 
February 1853 he was transferred to Ilazara, 
at the western foot of the Cashmere hills, 
leaving Jullunder with wann praise from his 
localchief, Donald McLeod, and expressions 
of regret from the people for whom he had 
worked nearly two years. McLeod, a trained 
administrator, selected from the civil service 
of the north-west provinces for the commis- 
sionership, was a man likely to judge soundly, 
and he reported that Edwardes was the best 
officer with whom he had ever come in con- 
tact. 

In his newpost a still harder task awaited 
Edwardes. The Hazara hills and valleys 
had been ruled by James Abbott, one of the 
most memorable of the singular group of men 
who served in the Punjab at that period. He 
was what H. Lawrence called * a true knight- 
errant/ always known among the wild high- 
landers of Hazara as * uncle,* and the man 
who, as Edwardes wrote, had brought the 
district * from utter desolation to a smiling 
prosperity.' Edwardes only remained long 
enough to found a central cantonment, which 
he named * Abbottabad,* in honour of his pre- 
decessor, and then, in the month of October, 
removed to Peshawur, promoted to the diffi- 
cult and dangerous post of commissioner in 
succession to the murdered Mackeson. * In 
the whole range of Indian charges,' so wrote 
the governor-general, Dalhousie, in privatelv 
informing Edwardes of his appointment, * 1 
know none which is more arduous than the 
commissionership of Peshawur. . . . You 
hold the outpost of Indian empire. Your 
past career and your personal qualities and 
abilitiesgive me assurance that I have chosen 
well.' For the commissioner in the trans- 
Indus was far more than a mere prefect. In 
him, besides the ordinary duties of a com- 
missioner of division, were vested the control 
of the lawless mountaineers who had bidden 
defiance to the Moghul emperors in their day 
of power. And to this were further added 
the political relations of the British govern- 
ment with the amir of Afghanistan, who was 
still smarting from past injuries, and whose 
territories marched wdth the division for sixty 
rough miles. 

In the discharge of the political part of his 
duties at Peshawur Edwardes was led to 
suggest to the government the propriety of a 
treaty with the amir, and Dalhousie was pre- 
paiea to g^ ve him a free hand for the purpose. 



But Sir John Lawrence was the chief at. 
Lahore, and his mind was never one that 
jumped at novelties. On his hesitation be- 
coming known in Calcutta the governor- 
general proposed that Edw^ardes, while con- 
ducting the negotiations with the court of 
Cabul, should correspond with himself, di- 
rectly and without the correspondence being 
transmitted, as routine and propriety alik& 
required, through the office 01 the chief. 
Edwardes declined to avail himself of thi» 
flattering irregularity ; the letters were duly 
sent backwards and forwards through Law- 
rence's office, and there can be little doubt 
that both the arbitrary ruler at Calcutta and 
the ardent representative at Peshawur lived 
to see the benefit of the cautious intermediary. 
A strict non-interference clause was ulti- 
mately introduced into the agreement, and 
the amir. Dost Muhamad, remained faithful 
to its engagements under all subsequent trials. 
LawTence came, years after, to be himself 
governor-general, and the policy of non-in- 
tervention was continued, only to be once- 
interrupted, down to the days of Lord Duf- 
ferin. The circumstances are equally credit- 
able to Lawrence and to Edwardes, and did 
not serve to ruffle for a moment the friendli- 
ness of their mutual relations. * All the 
merit of the affair,' so Lawrence wrote to- 
Edwardes, * whatever it may be, is yours.' 

Edwardes was entirely at one with Law- 
rence as to the question of frontier defence. 
When the treaty had been concluded, Ed- 
wardes wrote to a friend : * After the doubts 
and lessons of the [past] ... I have my- 
self arrived at the conclusion that our true 
military position is on our own side of the 
passes, just where an army must debouch 
upon the plain.' From this conclusion he 
never afterwards deviated. He remained con- 
vinced that the best ])rotection of British 
Indian interests on the frontier was * a strong, 
independent, and friendly Afj^hanistan,' and 
that there was a distinct feeling among the 
people of that country * that the Russians 
are not as trustworthy as the English.' But 
he held this conviction without any ill-tem- 
per towards Russia, believing that the British 
government should come to as friendly an 
understanding as possible with that ot the 
czar. In 1856 the Afghan ruler came down- 
to Peshawur on Edwardes's suggestion, and' 
there executed a supplementary treaty in view 
of approaching hostilities between the Indian 
government and the shah of Persia. Shortly 
after came the great revolt in Upper India, 
and Edwardes's foresight in helping to make 
a friend of Dost Muhamad was abundantly 
justified ; all through the revolt of the sepoy- 
army the ^Vfghans remained silent, and evem 



Edwardes 



no 



Edwardes 



sympathetic, spectators of their neighbours' 
trouole. On tlie receipt of the telegram an- 
nouncing the events of 10 and 11 Majr at 
3Ieerut and Delhi, Edwardes wrote to Sir J. 
Lawrence, who at first delayed acquiescence 
in the projects of his more ardent 8ulx>rdinate. 
But the chief coming as far as Pindi to confer 
with Edwardes was so far influenced by the 
arguments laid before him as to give sanction 
to the levy of a mixed force, and to the for- 
mation 01 a movable column which subse- 
quently maintained order in the Punjab and 
ultimately aided powerfully in the overthrow 
of the mutineers in the south of the Sutlej. 

Before long a difference arose between these 
two great public servants, which has been 
somewhat unduly magnified by some of Ed- 
wardes's admirers. Edwardes was, naturallv 
enough, anxious to do all in his power to hold 
the dangerous post which had been assigned 
to him by the government of India ; Law- 
rence had to thmk not only of that, but of 
the whole Punjab provinces, and even, for a 
time, of the empire at large. Therefore when 
Edwardes pressed for reinforcements and 
asked that some of the troops destined to 
take part in the siege of Delhi should be 
diverted for the defence of Peshawur, Law- 
rence had to answer that Delhi was a big 
thing, and that there was a possibility that 
Peshawur might have to be sacrificed to Delhi 
and to the necessity of concentrating on the 
hither side of the Indus. The Peshawur 
authorities were much excited at this sugges- 
tion, and referred to Lord Canning at Cal- 
cutta, by whom, but not until August, it was 
decided that Peshawur should be held * to 
the last.' It is surely unnecessary that a 
statesman like Lawrence should be depre- 
ciated in order that the very genuine and true 
services of his able agent should be duly 
valued. The latest historian sums up the con- 
troversy in these words : * Had things come 
to the worst elsewhere, it is obvious that such 
a move would have saved . . . the Punjab 
from untold disasters ' (Trotter, i. 480). 

After a bold and entirely prosperous ad- 
ministration of his charge Edwardes bt^gan to 
feel the consequences of the long trial, and in 
September 1 858 wrote that he was * quite t ired 
of work.' Ihit he was not able to leave his 
post for another twelvemonth, and when he 
<lid it is to be feared that his health had re- 
ceived permanent injury. In the middle of 
1859 he once more came to England, and in 
the following year was urged to standas a 
candidate for the representation of Glasgow 
in the House of Commons. He declined the 
invitation, deciding that he would remain in 
the Indian service. Tlie next two years were 
passed in England, where Edwardes delivered 



several addresses on Indian affairs, and re- 
ceived the honour of knighthood, with a step 
in the order of the Bath. He was also made 
LL.D. by the university of Cambridge. His 
health now showed signs of amendment, and 
in the beginning of 1§62 he was back in tho 
Punjab, mling the honourable place of com- 
missioner of tJmballa. This is a coveted ap- 
pointment, involving the privilege of working 
m mountain air durmg the summer, and Ed- 
wardes*s life for the next three years was sin- 
gularly happy. On 1 Jan. 1865 Edwardes 
was driven to Europe by a failure both of his 
wife's health and oi his own strength. He 
left India for ever, regretted by Lawrence, as 
* a bom ruler of men. 

The short remnant of his days was chiefly 
spent in London, where Edwardes devoted 
himself to the cause of public and private 
benevolence. He was a vice-president of the 
Church Missionary Society and a supporter 
of the City Mission, and ne took chai^ of 
Lawrence's family while his old chief was 
labouring in India as viceroy. Any spare 
time was to be devoted to the biography of 
the viceroy's brother. Sir Henry, a work 
which Edwardes never lived to complete. 
He was now promoted major-general ahd 
made a commander of the order of the Star 
of India, receiving further a ' good-conduct 
pension ' of 100/. a year. He threw himself 
into evangelical movements with character- 
istic ardour, and his personal charm and fluent 
language made him a welcome speaker on 
the platforms of that party. He took a par- 
ticularly active part in the opposition to ritual- 
ism in the Anglican church which marked 
the period. 

In March 1868 came a bad attack of pleu- 
risy. While still convalescent Edwardes was 
offered the reversion of the lieutenant-gover- 
norship of the Punjab. But the expecte<l 
vacancy did not occur, and Edwardes's health 
relapsed. On 5 Nov. he came back from 
Scotland, where he had experienced a short 
return of strength, and he died in London on 
23 Dec. 1 868. His memory was honoured by 
a mural tablet in Westminster Abbey, erected 
by the secretary of state in council. His fel- 
low-students and private friends, by a stained 
window in King's (^oUege chapel, attested 
their loving admiration, and he was likewise 
commemorated in his first district, Bunnoo, 
where the capital town is now known, accord- 
ing to Punjao fashion, as * Edwardes&bad.' 

The great characteristic of Edwardes is tho 
combination of bright intelligence with strong 
prt j udices. These, if t hey sometimes warped 
his judgment, always inspired and sustained 
his conduct. His most energetic state paper 
was attended by no success. After the sup- 



Edwardes 



III 



Edwards 



piession of the revolt of 1857 he ur^d upon 
the govemment the duty of publicly sup- 
porting the propagation of the ffospel in India 
hy projects which were generally condemned 
at tne time, and which are now all but for- 
gotten. This part of Edwardes's public life 
has been thus summed up by a generally 
sympathetic writer : ' In his scheme for ffo- 
vermng India on christian principles and his 
subsec^uent addresses to London audiences 
the brilliant commissioner of Peshawur be- 
trayed a curious lack of sound statesmanship, 
an unchristian contempt for that form of jus- 
tice which aims at treating others as we would 
be treated ourselves. In this respect he dif- 
fered widely from John Lawrence, whose 
fervent piety was largely tempered by his 
stem love of justice and nis sturdy common 
aense' (Tbottbb, India under Victoria^ 1886). 

The epithet of the historian is well chosen. 
Edwardes was brilliant rather than large- 
minded. Gay, buoyant, self-relying, he car- 
ried the minds of other men with him on 
most occasions of his life. But his work had 
something temporary about it. He established 
few doctrines, and founded no school. On 
the general frontier question, indeed, his 
knovdedge and experience saved him from 
rash counsels. But even here his policy was 
not new, having been founded by Efphin- 
stone and affirm^ by later statesmen. Where 
Edwardes was more of an originator he was 
less of a success ; his extreme zeal for mission 
-work in Afghanistan, for instance, can hardly 
be said to have been endorsed by events. 

It is as a man of action that he deserves 
unstinted praise. He had a natural military 
genius, independent of professional training, 
and a stren^h of will and talent for adminis- 
tration, which stood in no need of technical 
instruction. If he was thrown into the world 
before he had completed his education, he was 
compensated by being surrounded at an early 
age by highly formative conditions. Under 
these he developed his great (jualities, and 
finished his training in the wide school of 
experience. If untouched by the spirit of the 
age in Europe, he was all the more qualified 
for the mastery of Asiatics. With his suc- 
cess and his shortcomings, in his acauirements 
no less than in his limitations, he is a typical 
figure in a class to whom the nation owes a 
debt of gratitude. With the dashing spirit 
of the cavalier the early Punjab officer united 
something of the earnestness of the Ironside, 
but the ver^ qualities which aided them in 
their rapid rise perhaps hindered them in after 
life. Tney were, for the most part, content 
to see other men build on their foundations. 

[The best materials for the study of Edwnrdes's 
life and cfaaiacter are furnished by his widow — 



Memorials of the Life and Letters of M^'or- 
ffeneral Sir H. Edwardes, K.C.B., &c., Lon- 
don, 1886. For the general history of the time 
the works cited above may be consulted; also 
the Histories of the Sepoy Mutiny of Malleson, 
KAye, and Holmes ; with Mr. Bosworth Smith's 
Life of John Lawrence and Edwardes and Meri« 
vale's Life of Henry Lawrence.] H. G. K. 

EDWARDS, ARTHUR (d, 1743), major, 
for many years the archaeological ally of I)r. 
Stukeley and Lord Winchusea (Nichols, 
Lit Anecd. xi. 772), was elected a fellow of 
the Society of Antiquaries on 17 Nov. 1726 
([Gough], List of Members ofSoc. Antiq. 4to, 
1/98, p. •4). He died first major of the se- 
cond troop of horse guards in Grosvenor 
Street, London, 22 June 1743 {Gent, Mag. 
xiii. 389 ; affidavit appended to will). His 
will of 11 June 1738 was proved at London 
13 July 1743, a second grant being made 
7 Nov. 1745 (repstered m P. C. C, 230, 
Boycott). Therein he refers to his family 
merelv as ' my brothers and sisters, the chil- 
dren of my father.' The fire of 23 Oct. 1731, 
by which the Cotton Library was so seriously 
injured, induced Edwards to make the mum- 
ficent ^ift of 7,000/. to the trustees * to erect 
and build such a house as may be most likely 
to presence that library as much as can be 
from all accidents.* Owing, however, to the 

5 retraction of a life interest in the legacy, it 
id not become available until other arrange- 
ments had made its application to building 
Purposes needless (Edwabds, Memoirs of 
libraries, i. 434, 400). It was consequently, 
in pursuance of the testator's contingent in- 
structions, appropriated to the purchase of 
* such manuscripts, books of antiquities, an- 
cient coins, medals, and other curiosities as 
might be worthy to increase and inlarge the 
said Cotton Library.' Edwards also be- 
queathed about two thousand volumes of 
printed books and their cases ; also, his 'pic- 
tures of King George the 1st, the Czar Peter, 
Oliver Cromwell, and Cosimo di Medicis the 
1st, with his secretary, Bartolomeo Concini 
. . . to be placed in the aforesaid library.* 

[Authorities as above.] G. G. 

EDWARDS, BRYAN (1743-1800), 
West India merchant, was bom at Westbury, 
Wiltshire, on 21 May 1743. His father in- 
herited a small estate, valued at about 100/. 
a year, and to support his large family endea- 
voured to add to nis income by dealings in 
com and malt. This attempt did not prove 
successful, and at his death m 1756 his wife 
and six children were left, in poverty. For- 
tunately for his children's sake the widow 
had two rich brothers in the West Indies, and 
one of them, Zachary Bayly of Jamaica, took 



Edwards 



112 



Edwards 



the family under his protection. Edwards 
had heen placed at the school of William 
Foot, a dissenting minister of Bristol, and a 
good instructor, though forbidden to teach his 
pupil Latin and GreeK ; but after his father's 
death the boy was removed to a French board- 
ing-school in the same city, where he learnt 
the French language, and, having access to 
a circulating library, acquired a passion for 
books. In 1759 his younger uncle returned 
to England, and took his nephew to live 
with him in London. The pair quickly dis- 
agreed, and after an experience of a few 
months Bryan was shipped off to Jamaica to 
his other uncle, a man of kinder disposition 
and more enlightened mind, who engaged for 
the nephew's sake a clergyman to dwell in 
the family, from whom he learnt * small Latin 
and less Greek,' but from whose instruction 
and example he gained a taste for composi- 
tion. The nephew was admitted to a share, 
and after a few years succeeded to the en- 
tirety of his uncle's business, and is also said 
to have been left in 1773 heir to the great 
property of a Mr. Hume of Jamaica. Through 
Edwards's fostering care the business con- 
tinued to prosper, and his talents secured for 
him a leading position in the colonial assem- 
bly, * where he attacked the restrict ions placed 
by the government on trade with the United 
States.' He returned to his native country 
for a time, and in 1782 contested the repre- 
sentation of Chichester in the independent 
interest against the Duke of Richmond's no- 
minee. At the poll he was defeated by eight 
votes (239 to 247), and although he attempted 
to gain the seat by a petition in the commons 
and by an action in the court of king's bench, 
he abstained from prosecuting the petition to 
an issue, and lost his action. In the begin- 
ning of 1787 he repaired again to the West 
Indies, and dwelt there until the autumn of 
3702, when he settled permanently in Eng- 
land as a West India merchant, and esta- 
blished a bank at Southampton. In 1794 he 
contested its representation with the son of 
its patron, and after a severe contest was re- 
jected by the electors ; but at the general 
election m 1796 he was elected, through the 
influence of the Eliots, as member for the 
Cornish borough of Grampound. By Mr. 
Speaker Abbot the new member was de- 
scribed as * a heavy-looking man,' using lan- 
guage * very awkward and inelegant;' but 
Wilberforce, with more candour, acknow- 
ledged that he found in Edwards, who sup- 
ported the slave trade with certain restric- 
tions, 'a powerful opponent of slave trade 
abolition.' He had long suffered from ill- 
health, and did not live through this par- 
liament, but died at his house at the Polygon, 



Southampton, on 16 or 16 July 1800, and 
was buried in a vault under the church of 
All Saints, Southampton. He married Maria,, 
younger daughter of Thomas Phipps of Brook 
House, Westbury , and left an only son, Hume 
Edwards, to inherit his vast wealth. 

The chief work of Edwards was * The His- 
tory of the British Colonies in the West 
Indies.' Two volumes of this work, contain-^ 
ing much information on the slave trade, 
were published in 1793, and in the same year 
an impression was issued at Dublin. The 
seconci edition appeared in 1794, when the 
owners of the first issue were enabled by a 
separate publication, entitled ' List of Maps 
and Plates for the History of the British Co- 
lonies in the West Indies,' to complete their 
copies by the purchase of the maps, plates, &c. 
which were contained in the improved edi- 
tion. Not long after he had compiled this 
work he conceived the idea of writing a gene- 
ral account of all the settlements in the West 
Indies, but with especial attention to the 
French colonies. He visited St. Domingo 
shortly aft€r the revolt of the negroes in 1791, 
and, although disappointed in his comprehen- 
sive scheme, published in 1797 * An Histo- 
rical Survev of the French Colon v in the 
Island of St. Domingo,' which was reproduced 
in 1807, * together with an account of the 
Maroon Negroes in Jamaica, and a Ilistorv 
of the War m the West Indies, by Bryan Ed- 
wards. Also a tour through Barbaioes, St. Vin- 
cent, &c., by Sir William Young, bnrt.' This 
volume, which was left unfinished through 
the author's death, and to which was prefixed 
* A Sketch of the Life of the Author, written 
by himself a short time before his death,' was 
also issued as a third volume to the original 
' History of the British Colonies,' and the 
whole work was at the same time reissued in 
three volumes with the date of 1801. The 
fifth edition was passed through the press in 
1819. The complete work was translated 
into German, some parts were rendered into 
Spanish, and the history of St. Domingo was 
translated into French. Though the history 
was generally popular, and was highly praised 
by such competent critics as McCulloch, the 
opinions of the author did not meet with uni- 
versal acceptance. The history of St. Do- 
mingo condemned the treatment which its 
negroes received from the settlers, and re- 
flected severely on the conduct of its French 
inhabitants towards the English who came 
there after 1791, and for his views on these 
matters Edwards was attacked in a volumi- 
nous letter addressed to him in 1797 in both 
French and English by Colonel Venault de 
Charmilly. The modified continuance of 
slavery which Edwards advocated in theee 



Edwards 



113 



Edwards 



volumes proTobed in 1795 a letter of remon- 
itnnce from Williom Preaton of Dublin. 
Edwards succeeded Sir Joaepti Banks in lr!J7 
u the secretary ' of the ABsociation for Pro- 
moting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of 
Afiicaj'and the second volume of the society's 
'PrMeedings' contained ' an abstract of Afr. 
Parle's account nf hia travela and discoveries, 
abridged from hia own minut«a by Bryan Ed- 
wards,' some copies of wUicU were struck off 
separately for the private use of the members 
in 17BS. The whole of the narrative of Ed- 
waida H-as incorporated ia the larg« volume 
rf'Traveb in the Interior Districts of Africa, 
performed ... in 179>!> and 170G by Mungo 
Wrk' (ITflO), and it has even been asserted 
W aome critics that Park wa^ indebted to 
Edwards for the composition of that volume. 
Dr. Thomas Somerville was so informed by 
Kshop Mi^endie, who claimed to make the 
statement on trustworthy evidenct<, ' beinf^ 
not only a member of the African society, 
but having' often been a witness of Mr. Park's 
putting his notes into the hands of Edwards, 
whoafterwHrdsarrangedand tranafusedthem 
intoacoUected and expanded narrative.' The 
abiltticB oF Park were equal t-o its composi- 
tion, and the probable conclusion is that al- 
though he sought the advice, and paid defer- 
ence to (be views of Edwards, the recital of 
his tiBvela was in the main his own narra- 
tive- 
Edwards was also Ihe author of several 
Mnaller works. 1 . ' Thoughts on t he late Pro- 
ceedings of Government respecting the Trade 
of the West India Islands with the United 
States,' 1784, in which he argued in favour 
of free inti^rcourse in trade, and condemned 
the American war. This pamphlet brought | 
him intocontroversywith Lord Sheffield, and ; 
provoked an address to him from a writer I 
called John Stevenson. 2. 'Speech at a| 
&oe Conference between the Council and 1 
Aeeembly of Jamaica on Mr. Wilberfnrce's I 
Propositions concerning the Slave Trade,' I 
1790. 3. 'PoemSi'priated and privately difitri- I 
buted among hismends about 1701. 4, 'Vin- 
dication of the Proceedings of the English 
Government towards the Spanish Nation in 
163S,' in reference to Jamaica, which forms 

K, xxii-iuviii of ' Preface and Historical 
wuments to he preGied to the new edition 
of the JamaicuLaws.' 5. ' Proceedings of the 
Governor and Assembly of Jotnoica in regard 
U) the Maroon Negroes. To which is pre- 
fixed on introductory account [by Edward*] 
on the dispoaitios of the Maroons, and of the 
iateWar between these People and theWhiie 
Inhabitants.' Edwarda is said by more than 
one aulhoritytohavedrivenDr.Wolcot, gene- 
rally known as 'Peter Pindar,' trom Jamaica, 



[through tha vigour of hia satire; but Pol- 
whele, who knew Wolcot's history well, as- 
serts that the doctor came to England for 
ordination and admission to a good benefice 
in Jamaica. A portrait of Edwards was 
painted by Abbot and engraved by Holloway. 
[ApplelAo's Cyelopiedia of Americas Biog.; 
CansiuB Literaria. vi. 222; SomervilU's Life and 
Timoa, pp. 323-4; Oent. Mag. 1800, pp. 702. 
7S3-1 ; W. D. Cooper's PsriiamaDtary History 
of Sussnx, p. IS ; Life of Wilbsrforcp, ii. 196, 
311, 277; Davies's Sonthampton. p. 398,- Old- 
field's RepreaPntatiTB History, iii. 6fil ; Hoare's 
History of Wiltshini. vol, iii. pt. i. pp. 32, 11 ; 
Life of Mungo Park in Joumus of nil Hission 
to Africa in 1805, pp. xvi, xi-ixxi, cii-cii, and 
addenda, pp. Xi-i»v; Notes andQuari™ (1B6B), 
4th aor. i. 5fl, 130.] W. P. C. 

EDWARDS, CHARLES (d. 1691 P), 
Welsh author, was entered in 1644 as a stu- 
dent of All Souls' College, Oxford, at the age 
of sixteen, his father being described as a 
plebeian. It is supposed that his father was 
Robert Edwards of Cynlleth, that he was bom 
at Rhyd-y-Croesau in Denbighshire, and thaC 
he received his early education either at 
Ruthin or Oswestry. It is nlmoal certain ha 
never received episcopal ordination. In 1848 
Edwards replied to the parliamentary visitors 
at Oxford, ' I humbly submit to this visita- 
tion as far as its proceedings be according to 
the laws of the land and tue statutes of this 
university,' and this answer was not deemed 

isfactory. On 14 June he was expelled, but 



lege 27 Oct. 1&18, On 30 Oct., when the 
old fellows and scholars were expelled, Ed- 
words was allowed to remain. In June 1649 
he was appointed to make a Latin declama- 
tion in praise of clemency, and his freedom of 
speech appears to have given great umbrage. 
He says: 'Whether my diacourseof clemency 

frocu'red me severity I cannot tell, but sure 
am thatsoon after it was used towards me.' 
Yet he was afterwards made an honorary 
fellow. In Ihe same year he was awarded 
the place and emolument of Bible reader. 
In the same year he took hia bachelor's 
degree. Ho seems to have lingered at tlia 
university, hoping, perhaps, that his friends 
would be able to obtain him an appointment 
at some other college. Failing this, he settled 
in Denbighshire and married. In 1653 the 
'sine cura' of Llanrbaiadr was conferred on 
him. This had been vacant since the death 
of Dr. John Owen, bishop of St. Asaph, 
16 OCT. 1651. He preached as an itiuenuit, 
catechised the children on Sundays, and 
held monthly fasts on a week day in public 
and private. On the accession of Charles II 



Edwards 



114 



Edwards 



his troubles were greatly increased, and the 
benefice was soon taken out of his hands. 
In 1666 soldiers broke into his house at night, 
went into his cellar, got drunk on his beer, 
called him a traitor, and with great violence 
took him prisoner and carried him to the 
county gaol. His release cost him time and 
money, and on his return home he seems to 
have found one of his children dead from 
fright. * Within a few months afterwards,* 
says he, ' my wife and some of my surviving 
children, being discouraged in their obedience 
by the many injuries they saw inflicted on 
me, became undutiful. . . .' His children 
were persuaded that it was better for them 
to be without him, and his wife was so far 
alienated from him that she importuned him 
to part from her and live asunder, though 
for sixteen years they had lived together as 
lovingly as any couple in the country. They 
separated by mutual consent, and he returned 
to Oxford in 1666. Henceforward he de- 
voted himself mainly to Welsh literature, 
and the next few yesLTS were employed on 
the book by which he is best known, * Hanes 
y Ffydd Ddiffuant,* which is a kind of his- 
tory of Christianity, interspersed with much 
interesting information respecting the tenets 
of the ancient Welsh bards. He maintains 
their orthodoxy, and shows that the primitive 
British church was independent of that of 
liome. The book was published at Oxford in 
1671, with a Latin recommendation from the 

Jen of Dr. Michael Roberts, the principal of 
esus College at the date of Edwards's expul- 
sion. In 1675 he was in London busy with 
the printing of some Welsh books. . In this 
year he published his curious little work, of 
which several editions have appeared, * He- 
braicorum Cambro-Britannicorum Specimen.' 
It is intended to show the Hebrew origin of 
the Welsh language. The second edition of 

* Hanes y Ffydd ' appeared in Oxford in 1076, 
the third in 1677, the fourth at Shrewsburv 
in 1722, fifth and sixth at Dolgelley in 1811 
and 1812, seventh at Carmarthen in 1860. 
His 'Plain Pathway* appeared in 1682, 
'Book of the Resolution* in 1684, and in 
1086 'Fatherly Instructions* and 'Gildas 
Minimus.* About this time he probably eked 
out a precarious living as a bookseller, for in 

* Fatherly Instructions ' he says that * British 
books are to be had with the publisher hereof.' 
His last known work is his autobiographv 
(1691), bearing the title * An Afflicted Man^s 
Testimony concerning his Troubles.* It is 
probable that he died soon after this. 

Notwithstanding the great amount of ad- 
ditional information discovered and recentlv 
made public in the paper read by Mr. Ivor 
James of Cardiff, at a meeting of the Cym- 



mrodorion Society, 26 March 1886, still, as Mr. 
James adds, * a mystery remains — ^how came 
this man, the object of so much malevolence^ 
to be the mouthpiece of a body of gentlemen^ 
who comprised among their number Tillot- 
son, Stilhngfieet, Baxter, Stephen Hughes^ 
and Jones of Llangynwyd. Had he friends P 
They stood aloof from him ; his relatives, hi» 
wife, his children, kindred and acquaintances, 
all leagued, according to his story, against his 
character, estate, and life.* 

[Ivor James's Paper ; Williams's Eminent 
Welshmen ; Foulkes's Geirlyfr Bywgraffiadol.] 

XV. J. J. 

EDWARDS, EDWARD (1738-1806), 
painter, the elder son of a chairmaker and 
car\'er, who had come from Shrewsbury, and 
settled in London,was bom in London 7 March 
1738. He was a weakly child, with distorted 
limbs, and remained of very small size all his 
life. At an early age he went to a French 
protestant school, but at fifteen was removed 
in order to work at his father's business. He 
worked up to eighteen with a Mr. Hallet, an 
upholsterer at the comer of St. Martin's Lane 
and Long Acre, drawing patterns for furni- 
ture. His father then sent him to a drawing 
school, and in 1759 he was admitted as a 
student into the Duke of Richmond's gallery. 
He lost his father in 1760, when the support 
of his mother and sister devolved upon him. 
Edwards took lodgings in Compton Street, 
Soho, and opened an evening school for draw- 
ing. In 1761 he was admitted a student in 
the academy in St. Martin's Lane, where he 
studied from tlie life. In 1763 he was em- 
ployed by John Boydell [q. v.] to make draw- 
ings for engravers, and in the following year 
succeeded in gaining a premium from the 
Society of Arts for the best historical picture 
in chiaroscuro, which he exhibited at the 
Free Society of Artists in the same year, 
the subject being ' The Death of Tatius.^ 
He subsequently exhibited with the Incor- 
porated Society of Artists, of which body he 
became a member, quitting it, however, for 
the Royal Academy, where he exhibited for 
the first time in 1771, sending 'The Angel 
I appearing to Hagar and Ishmael,' and a por- 
trait. He continued to exhibit there up to the 
I year of his death, contributing pictures of 
I various descriptions, and numerous portraits. 
Among them may be noted 'Bacchus and 
Ariadne * (1773), ' Oliver protected bv Or- 
lando, from "As you like it"* (1775^, *View 
of Brancepeth Castle, near Durham (1784), 

* A View of the River at Bam Elms * (1786), 
*The Angel appearing to Gideon' (1792), 

* The Release of the Pnsoners from Dorches- 
ter Gaol' (1796), * Portrait of Rev. H. Whit- 



Edwards 



lis 



Edwards 



field, D.D.' (1799), ' Cupid and Psyche' (1800), 
&c In 1773 he was elected an associate of 
the Royal Academy. He was employed hy 
the Society of Antiquaries to make a draw- 
ing from the picture in the royal collection 
of * The Interview between Henry VIII and 
Francis I at Calais ; ' for this drawing, which 
occupied him six months, he received 110 
cruineas. He was also employed by Lord 
&essborough to repair a ceiling painted by 
Sir James Thomhill at Roehampton, by Mr. 
Bell on designs for his Shakespeare and other 
publicat ions, and by Mr. Robert Udny. Owing 
to the kind assistance of the last-named he 
was enabled to visit Italy, and left for Home 
in July 1775, returning in September 1776. 
In 1781 he obtained a premium for landscape, 
and in this year he presented a paper to the 
Hoyal Society on the damage wrought by 
the great storm at Roehampton. In 1782 he 

Sinted three ceilings for the Hon. Charles 
imilton at Bath. About this time too 
he was employed a great deal by Horace 
Walpole at Strawberry Hill, for whom he 
made many drawings; in 1784, however, 
some disagreement led to a breach between 
them. In 1786 he painted for Mr. Estcourt 
a 'Hunting Party, containing portraits of 
the Duke of Beaufort and his sons ; in the 
following year he was painting scenes for the 
theatre at Newcastle-on-Tyne. In 1788 he 
•was appointed professor of perspective at the 
Royal Academy, and subsequently published 
a treatise on that subject. Ho was occupied 
for some time on apicture representing * The 
Interior View of Westminster Abbey on the 
Commemoration of Handel.* This be com- 
pleted and exhibited at the Royal Academv 
in 1793. In 1799 he was induced by Boydefl 
to paint a scene from * The Two Gentlemen 
of Verona' for the Shakespeare Gallery. He 
lost his mother in 1800, but continued to 8U|)- 
port his sister until his death (19 Dec. 1806). 
lie was buried in St. Pancras churchyard. 
Edwards was a proficient in etching, and in 
1792 published a set of fifty-two etchings. 
There is a volume in the print room of 
the British Museum containing others, and 
also some of his unsuccessful essays in that art. 
He designed numerous illustrations, wrote 
verses, and played the violin. He com- 

Siled and published a volume entitled * Anec- 
otes df Painters* (1808), intended as a sup- 
plement to AValpole's work ; though ratlier 
loosely put togetner, it contains valuable re- 
cords of contemporary artists which might 
otherwise have perished. A portrait engraved 
by Cardon after his own drawing is prefixed 
to the work ; the original drawing, with two 
others bj Edwards, is in the print room at 
the British Museum. 



[Memoir prefixed to the Anecdotes of Painters ; 
I Redgrave's Diet, of Artists; Graves's Diet, of 
ArtistsS, 1760-1880; Sandbys Hist, of the Royal 
Academy ; Notes in Anderdon's illustrated copy 
of the Anecdotes, print room Brit. Mas. ; Cata- 
logues of the Royal Academy, &c.] L. 0. 

EDWARDS, EDWARD (1803-1879), 
i marine zoologist, was bom on 23 Nov. 1803, 
at Corwen, Merionethshire, where he re- 
ceived his education. He started in life as 
a draper at Bangor, Carnarvonshire, which 
j business he carried on until 1839, when he 
retired from it. In the following year he 
established a foundry and ironworks at Menai 
Bridge, which he appears to have carried on 
for several years with much success. In 
1864, being interested in observing the forms 
of marine life in the beautiful waters of the 
Menai Straits, he began to study the habits 
and characters of the fish in their native ele- 
ment. He was induced to attempt an arti- 
ficial arrangement for preserving the fish in 
health in confinement, so as to be enabled to 
study their habits more closely. By an imi- 
tation of the natural conditions under which 
the fishes flourished, he succeeded in intro- 
ducing such improvements in the construc- 
tion of aquaria as enabled him to preserve 
the fish for an almost unlimited period with- 
out change of water. His most notable 
improvement was his * dark-water chamber 
slope-back tank,' the result of a close study 
of the rock-pools, with their fissures and 
chasms, in the rocks on the shores of the 
Menai Straits. This improvement retarded 
for a long time the falling ofi* in the taste for 
domestic aquaria, and the principle of Ed- 
wards's tant was most successfully adopted 
in all the large establishments of this country, 
and in many of the continental and American 
zoological schools. To the pursuit of this in- 
teresting branch of natural history Edwards 
devoted the last years of his life, dying, at 
the age of seventy-five, on 13 Aug. 1879, after 
an attack of paralysis. 

[Athenaeum, No. 2706, 6 Sept. 1879 ; infor- 
mation from friends in Angleseii, and from Ed- 
wards's son, Mr. John R. Edwards of Liverpool.] 

R. U-T. 

EDWAEJ)S, EDWARD (1812-1886), 
librarian, was bom in 1812, probably in Lon- 
don. Of his education and early employments 
we have no account, but in 1836 he appears 
as a pamphleteer on subjects of public in- 
terest, and his productions evince consider- 
able information as well as mental activitv 
and intelligence. He wrote on national uni- 
versities, with especial reference to the uni- 
versity of London, whose charter was then 
under discussion ; on the British Museum, at 

i2 



Edwards 



ii6 



Edwards 



the time undergoing thorough investigation 
from Mr. Ha wes's committee ; and, at a some- 
what later date, on the reform of the Royal 
Academy. His attention was probably di- 
rected to the latter subject by the work he 
undertook in 1837, in connection with the 
patentees of the CoUas system of engraving, 
on the great seals of England, and on the 
medals struck under the French Empire. 
His account of the latter extends from 1804 
to 1810, but was never completed. He also 
about this time assisted Mr. W. Macarthur 
in his account of New South Wales, though 
his name did not appear in connection with 
the work. Meanwhile his pamphlet on the 
museum and the evidence he had given before 
the museum committee had attracted the 
attention of the authorities, and in 1839 he 
became a supernumerary assistant in the 
printed book department, for especial em- 
ployment on the new catalogue ordered by 
the trustees. Edwards wa« one of the four 
coadjutors of Panizzi in framin^r the ninety- 
one rules for the formation of this catalogue, 
the others being John Winter Jones, after- 
wards principal librarian; Thomas Watts, 
afterwards keeper of printed books ; and 
Serjeant Parry, then, lite Edwards, a super- 
numerary assistant. On the commencement 
of the catalogue Edwards was assigned to the 
duty of cataloguing the collection of civil 
war tracts, formed under Charles I and the 
Commonwealth by the bookseller Thoma- 
son, and containing more than thirty thou- 
sand separate pieces. These were entirely 
catalogued byhim,andhis titles are generally 
very good and full, sometimes perhaps almost 
superfluously minute. The tast seems to have 
absorbed his energies for several years, or 
any other literary work which he may have 

Eroduced was anonymous. About 1846 he 
egan to devote great attention to the sta- 
tistics of libraries, collected returns supplied 
by foreign librarians or excerpted by himself 
from foreign publications, and published the 
results in the * Athenseum.' Unfortunately 
these statistics were frequently fallacious, 
and Mr. Watts, in a series of letters pub- 
lished in the 'Athenaeum * under the signa- 
ture * Verificator,* easily showed that Ed- 
wards's assertions and conclusions were little 
to be relied on. They had served, however, 
to make him a popular authority, and he 
was able to render very valuable service to 
William Ewart [q. v.], wliose committee on 
free libraries in 1850 originated free library 
legislation in this country. It was natural 
that Edwards should be offered the librarian- 
ship of the first important free library esta- 
blished under Mr. Ewart*s act, which he was 
the more disposed to accept as his engage- 



ment at the museum had from various causes 
ceased to be satisfactory to himself or the 
authorities. He accordingly became in 1850 
the first librarian of the Manchester Free 
Library (opened 1852), and applied himself 
with much energy to the management and 
development of the institution. His project 
for a classified catalogue was published in 1 855 
in the form of aletter to Sir John Potter, chair- 
man of the library committee. The relations 
of the librarian of a free library and his com- 
mittee frequently require tact and forbearance 
on both sides, and this was certainly wanting 
on the part of Edwards, whose temper was 
naturally impatient of control, and who ad- 
mits in the pamphlet already mentioned that 
he had been taxed both with indifference to 
economy and with an undue regard to his 
own reputation. His position grew more 
and more uneasy, and in 1858 he was com- 

Selled to resign. The rest of his life was 
e voted to the literary labours which will 
chiefly contribute to preserve his name. In 
1859 appeared his ' Memoirs of Libraries,* a 
work of great value, containing a general 
history of libraries from the earliest ages, 
continued and supplemented by his * Libraries 
and their Founders,' 1806. By his * Lives of 
the Founders of the British Museum' (1870) 
he made himself the historian of the national 
library, and although his work must be sup- 

Elemented and may possibly be superseded 
y others, it is likely to remain the ground- 
work of every future history. It is in general 
accurate as well as painstaking, and evinces 
an impartiality creditable to the writer when 
the circumstances of his retirement from the 
museum are considered. Previous to the 
appearance of this important work he had 
written the article * Libraries ' in the * Encv- 
clopoedia Britannica,* published (1869) a 
small book on * Free Town Libraries ; ' writ- 
ten liis * Chapters on the Biographical History 
of the French Academy' (1864) ; edited the 
* Liber Monasterii de Hvda' for the Rolls 
Series ; and produced (18fe) his biography of 
Sir Walter Ilaleigh. The second volume is 
particularly valuable, containing for the first 
t ime a complete edition of Raleigh's correspon- 
dence ; the memoir also has considerable merit, 
but it appeared almost simultaneously with St. 
John's ; and it was remarked with surprise 
that each biography appeared to be deficient in 
whatever gave interest to the other, and that 
the two would need to be blended to produce 
a really satisfactory work. After the pub- 
lication of his history of the museum, Ed- 
wards accepted an engagement to catalo^e 
the librarv of Queen's College, Oxford, which 
occupied Iiim for several years. Qn the for- 
mation of the Library Association in 1877 



Edwards 



117 



Edwards 



he was proposed as its first president, but the 
deafness from which he was by this time 
sofFering would alone have been an insuper- 
able obstacle to his discharge of the omee. 
After the completion of his Oxford engage- 
ment he retirea to Niton in the Isle of Wight, 
and occupied himself with projects for a re- 
cast of his *■ Memoirs of liibraries/ with 
great alterations and improvements. A pro- 
spectus of the intended work was issued by 
Triibner & Co. Edwards negotiated for the 
appearance of a portion of it m the ' Library 
Cluronicle/ and was understood to have col- 
lected considerable material for it, but it 
does not seem to be known whether this still 
exists. His last published book was a ' Hand- 
book to Lists of Collective Biography,' un- 
dertaken in conjunction with Mr. C. Hole, 
the first and only part of which appeared in 
1885. He also wrote the greater part of the 
article *New8papere 'in the ninth edition of the 
* Encyclopaedia Britannica.* He died at Niton, 
1 Feb. 1886. Notwithstanding serious faults 
and frequent failures, Edwaros's name will 
always be associated with the history of libra- 
Tiansliip in England. His services in connec- 
tion with the free library movement were very 
valuable ; and he did much to awaken atten- 
tion to the defects of English libraries and li- 
brarianship. As a literary historian he was 
erudite and industrious, though not sufii- 
ciently discriminating. His works occupy a 
place of their own, and will always remain 
valuable mines of information. His opinions 
on library matters, whether expressed in his 
evidence before the museums committee or 
in his own writings, are almost always sen- 
sible and sound. They exhibit few traces of 
that vehemence of temperament and that 
incapacity for harmonious co-operation with 
othera which were at the root of most of his 
failures, and placed him in a false position for 
BO great a part of his life. 

[Autobiographical passages in Edwards's 
writings; Memoirs in Academy and Library 
Chronicle ; Reports of British Museum com- 
mittees, 1835 and 1849; personal knowledge.] 

R. G. 

EDWARDS, EDWIN (1823-1879), 

g winter and etcher, bom at Framlingham, 
uffolk, on 6 Jan. 1828, a son of Mr. Charles 
Edwards of Bridgham Hall, Norl'olk, was 
educated at Dedham, Essex, under Dr. Taylor. 
Early in life he studied law, and gave up a 
large and successful practice as an examining 
proctor in the admiralty and prerogative courts 
m order to follow his tastes as an artist. As a 
lawyer be wrote an 'Abridgment of Cases in 
t he Prerogative Court ; ' 'A Treatise on the Ju- 
risdiction of the High Court of Admiralty ; ' 
and 'Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, a Sketch/ 



1833. From 1860 Edwards devoted aU his 
time and energy to art. First he painted in 
water-coloure. In 1861 he made the ac- 
quaintance of Fantin Latour, Jacquemart, 
and other well-known French artists, and 
commenced painting in oil. His pictures of 
the Cornish coast scenery attracted consider- 
able attention at the Royal Academy exhi- 
bition in Trafalgar Square, and his * Gains- 
borough Lane ' was much admired in 1877. 
As an etcher his works are numerous, about 
371, consisting of scenes of the Thames at 
Sunbury, En^ish cathedral cities, wild Cor- 
nish coast, scenes in Suffolk, &c. He also 
published a work upon ' Old Inns of Eng- 
land,' profusely illustrated with etchings. 
He married Elizabeth Ruth, and died on 
15 Sept. 1879. An exhibition of Edwards's 
paintings, water-coloura, and etchings was 
held at the Continental Galleries, 168 New 
Bond Street, soon after his death. 

[Journal des Beaux-Arts illustr^, October 1879; 
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1 Nov. 1879 ; La Vie 
Moderne, 4 Oct. 1879 ; L'Art, 23 Nov. 1879.] 

L. F. 

EDWARDS, GEORGE (1694-1773), 
naturalist, bom at Stratford, Essex, 3 April 
1694, was taught in early yeara by a clergy- 
man named Hewit, who kept a public school 
at Leytonstone, and afterwards served an 
apprenticeship in Fenchurch Street, London. 
As a youth he had an opportunity of exa- 
mining the library of Dr. Nicholas, and read 
incessantly. At the expiration of his ap- 
prenticeship he spent a month in Hollana; 
m 1718 went to Norway, and was captured 
at Friedrichstadt by Danish soldiera, who 
suspected him of being a spy. He journeyed 
through France in 1719 ana 1720, partly on 
foot. On returning home he began to make 
coloured drawings of animals, which fetched 
good prices. James Theobald, F.R.S., proved 
a zealous patron ; and after an excursion in 
Holland, in 1731, Edwards was appointed 
(December 1733^, on Sir Hans Sloane's re- 
commendation, librarian of the Royal Col- 
lege of Physicians. The publication of his 
* History of Birds * began m 1743, and occu- 
pied him till 1764. On St. Andrew's day 
1760 Edwards was presented with the gold 
medal of the Royal Society, of which he was 
afterwards elected a fellow. He became a 
fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 13 Feb. 
1762. About 1 764 Edwards retired to Plais- 
tow, and died of cancer and stone 23 July 
1773. He was buried in West Ham church- 
yard. A portrait by Dandridge was en- 
graved by J. S. Millar in 1764. His chief 
work, ' The History of Birds,* was dedicated 
to God. The first volume appeared in 1743, 
the second in 1747, the third in 1760, and 



Edwards 



ii8 



Edwards 



the fourth in 1751. Under the new title of 
* Gleaninffs of Natural History * three addi- 
tional volumes were issued in 1758, 1760, 
and 1764 respectively. Nearly six hundred 
subjects in natural history not before de- 
lineated are here engraved. A generical in- 
dex in French and English was added. Lin- 
naeus often corresponded with Edwards, and 
prepared an additional index of the Linnsean 
names. Edwards's collection of drawings was j 
purchased by the Marquis of Bute shortly be- | 
tore the naturalist's death. Edwards's papers 
in the * Philosophical Transactions ' were 
collected by J. Kobson, and issued with the 
Linnscau index in 1776. Edwards was also 
the author of 'Essays of Natural History' 
(1770) and 'Elements of Fossilogy' (1776). 

[Biog. Brit. (Kippis) ; Nichols's Lit. Aoecd. 
V. 317-2G ; Watt's Bibl. Brit.] 

EDWARDS, GEORGE, M.D. (1752- 
J[823^, took his degree at Edinburgh Univer- 
sity m 1772, and appears to have practised 
as a physician in London, and latterly at 
Barnard Castle, Durham. He was an un- 
tiring propounder of political and social 
schemes between 1779 and 1819. The British 
Museum contains forty-two of his books; 
the following titles are sufficiently signifi- 
cant : * A certain Way to save our Country, 
and make us a more happy and flourishing 
people than at anv former period of our his- 
tory ' (1807); *^he Practical System of 
Human Economy, or the New Era at length 
fuUv ascertained, wherebv we are able in 
one immediate simple undertaking to remove 
the distress, burdens, and grievances of the 
times, and to bring all our interests, public, pri- 
vate, and commercial, to their intended perfec- 
tion ' (l8lG). Edwards's ^^Ti tings abound in 
the imconscious humour of the egotist deeply 
persuaded of his mission. He gives notice 
that * the Almighty has destined that I 
should discover his true system of human 
economy.' In a petition to the House of 
Commons (1816 ?) he prays that the house 
should carry out the schemes which were 
the fruits of * abnost half a century's atten- 
tion.' Among his ])roposal8 were the re- 
moval of taxes hiutful to industry, economy 
and reduction of public expenditure, the 
sale of certain national properties, particu- 
larly Gibraltar, the extension of the income 
tax to all orders, and forbearance for any 
requisite period to pay off the national debt 
as * altogether superfluous with the accession 
of the new and happy €»ra of mankind.' Go- 
vernment boards were to superintend all the 
interests of mankind, and everybody was to 
be actuated by truly christian principles. 
He published an address * aux citoyens 



Fran^ais sur la Nouvelle Constitution,' and 
* Id^es pour former une Nouvelle Constitution, 
et pour assurer la prosp4rit6 et le bonheur de 
la France et d'autres nations ' (Paris, 1793). 
It does not appear that Edwards attracted 
any attention, and it may be conjectured 
that his sanity was imperfect. He died in 
London on 17 Feb. 1823, in his seventy- 
second year. 

[Gent. Mag. (1823), p. 569; Brit. Mus. Cat.] 

J. M. S. 

EDWARDS, GEORGE NELSON, M.D. 
(1830-1868), physician, son of a surgeon, 
was bom at Eye, Suffolk, in 1830, and re- 
ceived his school education in part at the 
grammar school of Yarmouth, and in part at 
that of Beccles. He obtained one of the 
studentships in medicine endowed by Tail- 
ored, a Yorkshire squire, at Gonville and 
Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated 
M.B. in 1851, and after studying at St. Bar- 
tholomew's Hospital, London, obtained the 
license in medicine then given by the univer- 
sity of Cambridge in 1854, and became M.D. 
in 1859. He was elected assistant-physi- 
cian to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1860, 
was secretary to the medical council of the 
hospital from U Jan. 1866 to 9 Feb. 1867, 
ana was in 1866 elected lecturer on forensic 
medicine in the medical school. He also held 
the oflice of medical registrar, and was elected 

Shysician to the hospital 23 Jan. 1867, but 
id not long enjoy that office. One day, 
while going round the wards, he fell down in 
a uremic convulsion, was removed to his own 
house, and went through many of the most dis- 
tressing accompaniments of chronic Bright's 
disease. He grew blind so gradually that 
he did not know when he had totally ceased 
to see. A physician who had been at Caius 
College with him used constantly to visit 
him, and one day found him sitting before 
a window through which a bright sun was 
shining on his face. * Please draw up the 
blind,' said Edwards, unconscious that the 
atropliy of his optic discs was complete. 
He was a small man, who had been bullied 
at school, teased at Cambridge, and envied 
at St. Bartholomew's for the success which 
was the reward of perseverance rather than 
of ability. He attained considerable prac- 
tice, and seemed sure of a long tenure of it 
when his fatal illness began. He bore it 
heroically, and never complained but once, 
and then not of his suffenngs, but of a re- 
mark which made him think a candidate for 
his office was too anxious to succeed him. He 
died 6 Dec. 1868. He edited the first three 
volumes of the * St. Bartholomew's Hospi- 
tal Reports,' 1865-7, and published in 1862 



Edwards 



119 



Edwards 



* The Examination of the Chest in a Series of 
Tables/ He described {St, Bartholomew's 
Hospital ReportSy i. 141 ) two cases of poison- 
ing by mercuric methide, the symptoms of 
'which were then new to medicine, and also 
wrote a paper * On the Value of Palpation in 
the Diagnosis of Tubercular Disease of the 
Lungs ' (ib. ii. 216). 

[Memoir by G. W. Callender in St, Bartholo- 
meVs Hospital Reports, vol. v.; MS. MiDutes 
of Medical Council and Journals of St. Bartho- 
lomew's Hospital ; information from Dr. F. 
Harris.] N. M. 

EDWARDS, HENRY THOMAS (1837- 
1884), dean of Bangor, son of the Rev. Wil- 
liam Edwards, vicar of Llangollen, who died 
in 1868, was bom at Llanymawddwy, Merio- 
nethshire, 6 Sept. 1837, and educated at West- 
minster, where he was a Welsh 'Bishop's 
Boy ' holding the Williams exhibition. He 
left Westminster in his seventeenth year with 
the intention of proceeding to India, but, 
changing his mind, studied for twelve months 
imder the Rev. F. E. Qretton at Stamford, 
and then entered himself at Jesus College, 
Oxford. He graduated B. A. in 1860, and in 
the following year became curate at Llangol- 
len to his father, who being an invalid left 
almost sole charge of the parish to his son. 
He restored the church at an expense of 3,000/. , 
and the number of the Welsh congregation 
was nearly trebled during the time of his 
ministration. In 1866 he was appointed to 
the vicarage of Aberdare, where, during his 
residence of three years, he caused a new 
church to be built at Owmamman. The Bishop 
of Chester presented him to the important 
vicarage of Carnarvon in 1869. While there 
he organised a series of public meetings to 
protest against the exclusion of religious edu- 
cation from primary schools. The speeches 
were delivered in the Welsh language. In 
the same year (1869) Edwards had a long 
controversy in * Y Goleuad * with a Calvinistic 
methodist minister on the subject of church 
unity. Upon the death of the Rev. James 
Vincent he was promoted to the deanery of 
Bangor, March 1876, when only thirty-nine. 

He amply justified his appointment ; took 
a foremost part in all movements tending to 
the welfare of the church, and especiallv pro- 
moted the work of the Bangor Clerical Educa- 
tion Society, the object of which was to supply 
the diocese with a body of educated clergyable 
to minister efficiently in the Welsh language, 
spoken by more than three-fourths of the 

giople. In the work of the restoration of 
angor Cathedral he showed much energy, 
and in a short time raised 7,000/., towaros 
which sum he himself very liberally contri- 



buted. Among his publications that which 
excited the most attention was a letter en- 
titled * The Church of the Cymry,' addressed 
to Mr. W. E. Gladstone in January 1870, in 
which he accounted for the alienation of the 
great majority of the Welsh people from the 
established church. His name will probably 
be remembered for his onslaught on the tea- 
drinking habits of modem society, which he 
held to be the cause of * the general phy- 
sical deterioration of the inhabitants of these 
islands.' In 1883 he suffered from sleeplessness 
and nervousness, and was greatly aepressed 
in spirits. He consequently went for a long 
cruise in the Mediterranean, but with little 
benefit to his health. In May 1884 he was 
staying with his brother, the Rev. Ebenezer 
Wood Edwards, at Ruabon Vicarage. He 
committed suicide on 24 May 1884, and was 
buried at Glenadda cemetery on 28 May. 
He was the author of the wUowing works : 

1. * Eight Days in the Camp, a sermon,' 1865. 

2. ' The Victorious Life, sermons,* 1869; 

3. * The Church of the Cymry, a letter to the 
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,' 1870. 4. ' Cymru 
dan feUdith Babel,' 1871. 5. * The Babel of 
the Sects and the Unity of the Pentecost,' 
1872. 6. * The Position and Resources of the 
National Church,' 1872. 7. ' Amddiffynrdd 
yr Eglwys,' editor and chief contributor H. T. 
Edwards, 1873-5. 8. *The Exile and the 
Return, sermons,* 1875. 9. 'Why are the 
Welsh People alienated from the Church? a 
sermon,' 18/9. 10. * The Past and Present 
condition of the Church in Wales,' 1879. 
11. * Esponiad i'rpregethwr a'r athraw. Yr 
Efengylyn ol Sant Matthew. GydaSylwadau 
a mwy dau gant o draethodau pregethol gan 
H. T. Edwards.' 1882. 

[Church Portrait Journal, August 1879, pp. 
71-3, with portrait; Mackeson's Church Con- 
gross Handbook (1877), pp. 76-7 ; Times, 26 May 
1884, p. 9, 29 May, p. 6, and 11 June, p. 10 ; 
Illustrated London News, 31 May 1884, pp. 520, 
523, with portrait; Guardian, 4 June 1884, p. 
828.] G. 0. B. 

EDWARDS, HUMPHREY (rf. 1658), 
regicide, was, according to Noble, a yoimger 
son of Thomas Edwards of Shrewsbury, by 
Ann, widow of Stephen Ducket, and daugh- 
ter of Humphrey Baskervillc, alderman of 
London. He is represented as * having al- 
waies been a half-faced cavalier, changing his 
party for his profit.' Disappointed at not ob- 
taimng a reward for attending the king to 
the commons when he went to demand the 
five members, 4 Jan. 1642, Edwards took 
sides with the parliament, was elected mem- 
ber for Shropshire, probably in the place of 
Sir Richard Lee, * disabled to sit ' {Lists of 
Members of Parliamenty Official Return^ pt. i. 



Edwards 



I20 



Edwards 



p. 492), and on being nominated one of the 
commissioners of the high court of justice at- 
tended each day of the trial, and signed the 
death-warrant. Burinj^ the Commonwealth 
he served on the committee of revenue, and 
was appointed a commissionerof South Wales 

25 June 1651 (CaL State Papers, Dom. 1051, 
p. 266). He hankered after the chief usher- 
ship of the exchequer, then held by Clement 
Walker, and, after vainly soliciting the com- 
mittee of sequestrationa to sequester Walker 
during his incarceration in tue Tower, per- 
suaded the committee of revenue to confer 
the office on him ' untill the parliament de- 
clare their pleasure therein, by an order 
dated 1 Feb. 1649-50. On the following 
21 March, though the order had not been 
ratified by parliament, he took forcible pos- 
session of Walker's official residence {The 
Case between C. Walker and H. Edwards, s. 
sh.fol.l650; The Case of Mrs, Mary Walker, 
s. sh. fol. 1650). Edwards died in 1658, and 
was buried at Kichmond on 2 Aug (parish 
reg.) In the letters of administration granted 
in P. C. 0. to his sister. Lady Lucy Ottley, on 

26 Oct. 1058, he is described as * late of Kich- 
mond in the county of Surrey, a batchelor * 
{Administration Act Book, P. C. C. 1658, 
f. 270). Although he had died before the 
Restoration he was excepted out of the bill 
of pardon and oblivion, so that his property 
might be confiscated ( Commons^ Journals, viii. 
61, 280). In this way a parcel of the manor 
of West Uam which had been acquired by him 
was restored to the possession of the queen 
{ib, viii. 73). 

[Noble's Lives of the Regicides, i. 200-1 ; Cal. 
State Papers, Dom. 1649-60, p. 186, 1651, pp. 
237, 266, 1655, p. 80; Wood's Athenre Oxon 
(Bliss), iii. 864.] G. G. 

EDWARDS, JAMES (1757-1816), book- 
seller and bibliographer, bom in 1757, was 
the eldest son of William Edwards (1720- 
1808) of Halifax, who in 1784 set up James 
and a younger son, John, as the firm of Ed- 
wards & Sons in I*all Mall, London. John 
died soon afterwards, and the business was 
continued by James with mat success. A 
third son, Tliomas {d. 18(i4), was a bookseller 
in Halifax. Richard, another son, at one time 
held a government appointment in Minorca. 
Messrs. Edwards & Sons sold many valuable 
libraries. One sale in 1784 was formed prin- 
cipally from the libraries of N. Wilson of 
Pontefract and H. Bradshaw of Maple Hall, 
Cheshire. Among others dispersed in 1787 
was the library of Dr. Peter Mainwaring. 
James accompanied in 1788 his fellow-book- 
seller, James Robson, to Venice, in order to 
examine the famous Pinelli library, which 



they purchased and sold by auction the fol- 
lowing year in Conduit Street, London. In 
1790 Edwards disposed of the libraries of 
Salichetti of Rome and Zanetti of Venice^ 
and in 1791 that of Paris de Meyzieu. He 
had purchased at the Duchess of "Portland*s 
sale in 1786 the famous Bedford Missal,, 
now in the British Museum, described by 
Richard Oough in ' An Account of a Rich 
Illuminated Missal executed for John, duke of 
Bedford, Regent of France under Henry ^^/ 
1794, 4to. This description was dedicated 
by the author to Edwards, * who, with the 
spirit to purchase [the missal], unites the 
taste to possess it.' * Let me recommend the 
vouthful bibliomaniac to get possession of 
^Ir. Edwards's catalogues, and especially that 
of 1794/savs Jyih^in {Bibliomania, i. 123). 
He made frequent visits to the continent, 
where many of his most advantageous pur- 
chases were made. About 1804, having ac- 
quired a considerable fortune, he resolved to 
retire from trade, and with the Bedford Missal 
and other literary and artistic treasures he 
went to live at a country seat in the neigh- 
bourhood of Old Verulam. He was succeeded 
by Robert Harding Evans [q. v.] On 10 Sept. 
1805 he married Katharine, the only daughter 
of the Rev. Edward Bromhead, rector of 
Reepham, Norfolk, and about the same period 
bought the manor-house at Harrow, where 
some of the archbishops of Canterbury had 
once lived. The house is finelv situated 
among gardens, in which was an alcove men- 
tioned by Dibdin, some of whose imaginary 
bibliomauiacal dialogues are supposed to bV 
carried on in the surrounding grounds. Ed- 
wards was hospitable and fond of literary 
societv. Some of his books were sold by 
Christie, 25-28 April 1804. The remainder, 
a choice collection of 830 articles, fetched the 
large sum of 8,467/. \0s. when it was sold by 
Evans 5-10 April 1815 {Gent, Mag, Ixxxv. 
pt. i. pp. 135, 254,349 ; and Dibdin, Bibliogra- 
phical Decameron,lSl7, ill, 111-27). He died 
at Harrow 2 Jan. 1816, at the age of fiftv- 
nine, leaving five children and a widow, who 
afterwards married the Rev. Thomas Butt of 
Kinnersley, Shropshire. His last instruc- 
tions were that his cofiin should be made out 
of library shelves. A monument to his me- 
mory is in Harrow Church. 

Edwards was Dibdin's 'Rinaldo, the 
wealthy, the fortunate, and the heroic . . . 
no man ever did such wonderful things to- 
wards the acQuisition of rare, beautiful, and 
trulv classical productions ... he was pro- 
bably bom a bibliographical bookseller, and 
had always a nice leebng and accurate per- 
ception of what was tasteful and classical * 
{ib. iii. 14-16). 



Edwards 



I2X 



Edwards 



[Oent. Mag. Ixxxri. pt. i. 180^1 ; NichoU's 
Lit. ADecd. iii. 422, 641, v. 324, vi. 296, ix. 163, 
808 ; NichoU*8 Illaftrations, ir. 881-4, t. 678, 
Tiii. 467i ^74. 631 ; Clarke's Re^rtorium Biblio- 
graphicum, 1819, pp. 442-6 ; Timperley's Eocy- 
dopcdia, 1842, pp. 826, 933.] H. R. T. 

EDWARDS or EDWABDES, JOHN, 
M.D. (^.1638), Sedleian readerat Oxford (his 
name iawritten ' Ed wardes ' in the school regis- 
ter and university books), was bom 27 1^ eb. 
1600 {School Reg. \ educated at Merchant Tay- 
lors' School, and in 1617 elected thence to a 
probationary fellowship at St. John's College, 
Oxford. He gained there the favour of tne 
president, Dr. (afterwards Archbishop) Laud, 
who in 1632 obtained for him, by ' special 
recommendation and request,' the head-mas- 
tership of Merchant Taylors* School. He 
resigned this post at the close of 1634, and 
returning to Oxford served the office of proc- 
tor in the following year. In 1638 he was 
appointed Sedleian reader of natural philo- 
sophy, and proceeded to the decrees of d. and 
D.M. He appears to have resided in college 
during the troublous times that followed, and 
in 1042 was, with others, appointed by con- 
vocation to provide accommodation lor the 
troopers sent to Oxford, and procure arms for 
the further safety of the university. His 
loyalty made him obnoxious to the parlia- 
ment, and in 1647 he was summoned, as a 
delinquent, to appear before the committee 
of lords and commons for regulating the af- 
fairs of the university. His answers being 
unsatisfactory, he was placed by the visitors 
in 1648 for a time in custody of the provost 
marshal for ' manifold misdemeanours.' His 
fellowship was taken from him, and he was 
superseded in the office of Sedleian reader by 
Joshua Crosse of Magdalen. He waa, how- 
ever, permitted to receive the emoluments of 
the readership until Michaelmas 1649, after 
which dat« all record of him disappears. It 
is not probable that he survived to the Resto- 
ration, as in that case his spirited conduct 
and pecuniary losses would have met with 
recognition. 

[Robinson's Beg. of Merchant Taylors' School ; 
Oxford Mat. Keg. ; Woods Fasti, i. 477, 608, 
509. and Annals ; Bnrrows's Beg. of the Visitors 
of the Univ. of Oxford, 1647-68 (Camd. Soc.)] 

C. J. B. 

EDWARDS, JOHN (Sion Trekedtn) 
(fl. I60I), was the translator of the 'Marrow 
of Modem Divinity ' into Welsh. It is de- 
scribed as by E. F. (Edward Fisher) [j. v.l 
in English, and by J. E. in Welsh, printed 
in I^ndon by T. Mabb and A. Coles, for 
William Ballard, and sold at his shop under 
the sign of the Bible, in Com Street, in the 



city of Bristol, 1651. The dedication, to the-- 
Herberts, Morgans, Kemeys, Williams of 
Gwent, is dat<3 20 July 1660; the intro- 
duction to the reader, apologising for many 
errors, is dated 10 May 1651. Edwards waa 
ejected from Tredynock in Monmouthshire. 

[Bowlands's Cambrian Bibliography ; Dr. 
Thomas Bees's Hist, of Prot Nonconformity iJit 
Wales, 2nd ed. p. 77 note.] B. J. J. 

EDWARDS, JOHN (1637-1716), Cal- 
i vinistic divine, second son of Thomas Ed- 
I wards, author of * Gangnena ' [q. v.], was. 
I bom at Hertford 26 Feb. 1637, and admitted 
I into Merchant Taylors* School at the age of 
' ten. Having spent seven years there under 
I Mr.Dugard's care, he was appointed (10 March 
1653-4) sizar of St. John*s College, Cambridge 
I {College Beg.\ which at that time was under 
I the presidency of Dr. Anthony Tuckney, a 
presDjterian divine, eminent alike for his 
learning and love of discipline. Edwards's 
conduct and proficiency secured him a scho- 
larship, and before (as well as after) ^du- 
ating lie was appointed a moderator in the 
schools. In 1657 he was admitted B.A.^ 
elected fellow 23 March 1658-9, and pro- 
ceeded to the degree of M.A. in 1661. Soon 
afterwards he was ordained deacon by San- 
derson, bishop of Lincoln, who at the samo 
time engaged him to preach a sermon at 
the next ordination. Li 1664 he took the 
charge of Trinity Church, Cambridge, where 
his preaching — plain, practical, and tempe- 
rate — attracted much notice, and he won the 
pood opinion of his parishioners by his sedu- 
lous ministrations among the sick during a 
visitation of the plague. A few years later^ 
having taken the degree of B.D., he was 
chosen lecturer of Bury St. Edmunds, but 
retained the office only twelve months, pre- 
ferring college life. His position, however^ 
at St. John's became untenable on account 
of his Calvinistic views, and as he met with 
no sympathy from the master he resigned his 
fellowship and entered Trinity Hall as a fel- 
low commoner, performing the regular exer- 
cises in civil law. But the parishioners of 
St. Sepulchre's, Cambridge, having invited 
him to be their minister, he resumed his 
clerical functions, and about the same time 
improved his worldly estate by marriage with 
the widow of Alderman Lane, who had been 
a successful attorney in the town. After de- 
clining other preferment he was presented 
(1683) to the vicarage of St. Peter's, Colches- 
ter, a benefice which he retained some three 
years until declining health and waning popu- 
larity induced him to seek retirement in a 
Cambridgeshire villaf^e, and to make the press, 
rather than the pulpit the means of diffusing 
his opinions. In 1697 he was once more in 



Edwards 



122 



Edwards 



Cambridge, driven there, it would 6eem, by 
his need of books, and busy with his pen. In 
1699 he took the degree of D.D., and until 
the close of his long life, which occurred on 
16 April 1716, devoted himself to study and 
to the publication of theological works. He 
was loft a widower in 1701, and soon after- 
wards married Catherine Lane (niece of his 
first wife's husband), who survived until 
1745. Edwards's reputation as a Calvinistic 
divine stands high. The writer of his memoir 
in the ' Biographia Britannica ' says that * by 
his admirers he was said to have been the 
Paul, the Augustine, the Bradwardine, the 
Calvin of his age.' WHiile acknowledging his 
industry, learning, and fairness in controversy, 
it is scarcely necessary to add that such eulogy 
is extravagant. Out of the forty or more 
works which he published between 1690 and 
his death, one at least merits special notice, 
namely, the ' Socinians' Creed,* intended to 
<x)ntrovert. Lookers * Reasonableness of Chris- 
tians, as declared in the Scriptures.' Ileame 
{Coll. i. Oxf. Hist. Soc.) says: *I am told 
that Dr. John Edwards of Cambridge, author 
of " The Preacher " (which some say, though 
I think otherwise, is a very trite, silly book), 
has assumed to himself the honour of being 
author of " The Preservative against Soci- 
nianism,'* written by Dr. Jonathan Edwards, 

Principal of Jesus College in Oxford.' It is 
kely enough that some confusion may have 
been made between two contemporary authors 
of the same name wTiting upon the same sub- 
ject ; but there seems no reason to believe that 
JohnEd wards was guilty of the charge alleged 
against him. His works are: 1. * The Plague 
of the Heart,' a sermon, Cambridge, 1665, 
4to. 2. * Cometomantia : a Discourse of 

De- 
'idence 

of God, from the Contemplation of the Vi- 
sible Structure of the Greater and Lesser 
World,' 1600, 8vo. 4. * An Inquiry into 
Four licmarkable Texts of the New Testa- 
ment [Matt. ii. 23, 1 Cor. xi. 14, xv. 29, 
1 Peter iii. 19, 20],' Cambridge, 1692, 8vo. 
6. * A Further Inquirv into certain Remark- 
able Texts,' London, 1692, 8vo. 6. * A Dis- 
course on the Authority, Stile, and Perfection 
of the Books of the Old and New Testament,' 
S vols. 1693-5, 8vo. 7. 'Some Thoughts 
concerning the several Causes and Occasions 
of Atheism, especially in the Present Age, 
with some brief Keflections on Sociniunism 
and on a late Book entituled " The lleason- 
ableness of Christianity as delivered in the 
Scriptures," ' I-K)ndon, 1695, 4to. 8. SSocini- 
anism Unmask'd,' London, 1696, 8vo. 9. * The 
Socinian Creed,' London, 1697, 8 vo. 1 0. * Brief 
Itemarks on Mr. Whiston's new Theory of 



Comets [by J. E. ?1,' 1(>84, 8vo. 8. ' A 1 
monstration of the Existence and Providei 



the Earth,' 1697, 8vo. 11. 'A Brief Vindi- 
cation of the Fundamental Articles of the 
Christian Faith, . . . from Mr. Lock's Re- 
flections upon them in his " Book of Edu- 
cation," ' &c., 1697, 8vo. 12. ' Sermons on 
Special Occasions and Subjects,' 1698, 8vo. 
13. ' IloXvn-oiieiXor So^ia, a Compleat History 
of all Dispensations and Metnods of Reli- 

fion,' 2 vols. London, 1699, 8vo. 14. *The 
!temal and Intrinsick Reasons of Good 
and Evil,' a sermon, Cambridge, 1699, 4to. 
15. 'A Free but Modest Censure on the late 
Controversial Writings and Debates of Mr. 
Edwards and Mr. Locke,' 1698, 4to. 10. * A 
Plea for the late Mr. Baxter, in Answer to 
Mr. Lobb's Charge of Socinianism,' 1699, 8vo. 
17. * Concio et Determinatio pro gradu Doc- 
toratiis in Sacra Theologia,* Cantab., 1700, 
12mo. 18. *A Free Discourse concerning 
Truth and Error, especially in matters of 
Religion,' 1701, 8vo. 19. ' Lxercitations . . . 
on several Important Places ... of the Old 
and New Testaments,' 1702, 8vo. 20. * The 
Preacher, a discourse showing what are the 
particular Offices and Employments of those 
of that character in the Church,' 3 parts, 
London, 1705-7, 8vo. 21. *The Heinous- 
ness of England's Sins,' a sermon, 1707, 8vo. 

22. ' One Nation ; one King,' sermon on the 
union of England and Scotland, 1707, 8vo. 

23. * Veritas Redux : Evangelical Truths Re- 
stored,' 3 vols. London, 1707-8, 1725-6, fol. 
and 8vo. 24. Sermon on War, 1708, 8vo. 
25. * Four Discourses, . . . being a Vindica- 
tion of mv Annotations from the Doctor's 
[Whitby] CaviV 1710, 8vo. 26. * The Di- 
vine Perfections Vindicated,' 1710, 8vo. 
27. * Great Things done for our Ancestors,' a 
sermon, 1710, 8vo. 28. * The Arminian Doc- 
trines condemn'd by the Holy Scripture, in 
Answer to Dr. AVhitby,' 1711, 8vo. 29. * A 
Brief Discourse [on Rev. ii. 4-5],' 1711, 8vo. 
30. * Some Brief Observations on Mr. Whis- 
ton's late Writings,' 1712, 8vo. 31. *Some 
Animadversions on Dr. Clarke's Scripture- 
Doctrine of the Trinity,' 1712, 8vo. 31. A 
supplement to the above, 1713, 8vo. 32. 'Theo- 
logia Reformata,' 2 vols. 1713, fol. 34. * How 
to judge aright of the Former and Present 
Times,' accession sermon, 17 14, 4to. 35. * Some 
Brief Critical Remarks on Dr. Clarke's last 
papers,' 1714, 8vo. 36. *Some New Dis- 
coveries of the Uncertainty, Deficiency, and 
Corru])tions of Human ^Knowledge, &c., 
1714, 8vo. 37. ' The Doctrines controverted 
between I'apists and Protestants . . . Con- 
sidered,' 1724, 8vo. 37. * A Discourse con- 
cerning the Tnie Import of the words Elec- 
tion and Reprobation,' 1735, 8vo. 

[Robinson's Reg. of Merchant Taylors' School ; 
Wilson's Hist, of Merchant Taylors* School; 



Edwards 



Edwards 



BiogTHphia BriL ; Baker's Hist, of &t. John'a 
CambndgB (Jlojor) ; Brit. Mua. Lib. Cat.] 
C. J. E. 

EDWARDS, JOHN (Sioir t Potuc) 
(i:0O?-177G), poet, bom in Glyn Cuiriog in 
DenbiHliahire about 1700, waa a weaver by 
trade, but ia said iu early life to bave spent 
seven jeara as| assistant to a bookseller in 
London, and during that time ia supposed to 
have ^ined considerable infonnalion. lie 
wasB poet of some merit, hod two sons named 
Cain and Abel, of wliom somu local poet wrott 
the following jingle: — 

Cain BC Abal. cjn ac ebill. 

Abel a Chnin, ebiU a «byn. 
Cain gained some note as a publisher of alma- 
nacs. Edwards prepared his own monu- 
ment, and inscribed thereon 1 Cor. nv. G^, in 
Latin. He died in 17711. His translation of 
Bunvan's 'Pilgrim's I'rogress'waa published 
in li67-e. 



EDWARDS, JOHX {1714-1785), dis- 
wntin); minister at Leeds, Yorkshire, was 
bom in 1714. He published in 1758 ' A Vin- 
411011 ion of the Frotestaut Doctrine of Juati- 
tication and its Freucliers and Professors from 
the uniust Char^ of Antinomianism ; ex- 
tracted from a letter of the Uev. Mr. Itobt. 
Trail, a. minister in the city of London, to a 
minister in the country,' hia object being to 
testify to tlte trorld the doctrines advanced 



1 bis public ministiT, which n 
U laia down by Trail in this lei 



i letter. 
appeared ' The Safe Retreat from 
impending Judgments,' the substance of a 
aermon preached bv Edwards at Leeds, a 
second edition nf which was issued in 1773. 
At the end of this sermon is advertised 'The 
Christian Indeed,' another work by the same 
iiuthor. Edwards also edited ' A Collection 
«f Hymns and Spiritual 3on^ for the use 
of Serious and Devout Christians of all De- 
nominations,' of whichasecond edition, 'with 
alterations,' was published in 1709. He died 
in 1785. A mezzotint jiortrait after J. Itus- 
Bell, engraved by J. Watson, is dated 1772. 
[Watl'a Bibt. Bril.; Bril. Mns. Cat.; Brom- 
Uj'b Cat. of PortniitB, 3B0.] A. V, 

EDWARDS, JOHN (SiOK Ceikioo) 
<1747-179:.'), Welsh poet, was bom at Crogen 
Wladys in Glyn Ceiriog in 1747. He, 
<Jwen Jones (Myfyr), and Robert Hughes 
<Hobin Ddu o Iron), were the foundeca of 
Cymdeithas y Gwyneddigion, or the Venedo- 
tian Society, 1770. Sion Ceiriog, as he was 
called, wrote an audi (ode) for the meeting 



of the society on St. David's day, 1778; he 
was its secretary in 1779-80, and its presi- 
dent in 17S3. He died suddenly in 1792, 
aged 45, John Jones, Glan-y-Gors, contri- 
buted some memorial verses to the ' Geir- 
grawQ ' of June 1796, with these prefatory 
remarks: 'To the memory of John Edwards, 
Glynceiriog, in the parish of Llangollen, Den- 
bighshire, who was generally known oa Sion 
Ceiriog, a poet, an orator, and an astronomer, 
acurious bistoriaaof sea and land, a manipu- 
lator of musical instruments, a true lover of 
hia country and of his Welsh mother tongue, 
who, to the great regret of his friends, died 
and was buried in London, September 1792.' 
[Foulkoa's Geirlj-fr llywaroffladol, 1870.] 

K. J. J. 

EDWAIIDS, JOHN (1751-1832), poeti- 
cal -writer, the eldest son of James Edwiuils 
of Old Court, CO. Wicklow, by Anne, second 
daughter of Thomas Tenison, a son of Arch- 
biabopTenison,wasboTO inl751. He became 
an officer of light dragoons in the volunteer 
army of Ireland, and roae to the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel. In honour of the force 
to which he belonged he wrote 'The Patriot 
Soldier: a Poem, Nottingham, 1784, 4to, 
3S pp. He also published 'Kathleen: a 
Ballad from Ancient Irish Tradition,' 1808, 
4tQ ; 'Abradales and Panthea; a Tragedy, 
1808, 6vo j ' Interests of Ireland,' London, 
1815, and an essay upon the improvement 
of bank-notes, Liverpool, 1620. Edwards 
died owner ofOld Court in 1832. He married 
Charlotte, fifth daughter of John Wright 
of Nottingham, who bore him three sons and 
two daughters. 

[Barko's Landed Gentr;'; Watt's Bibliotheea 
Brit. ; Crrawell's Nottiiiehuni I'rinting. p, 38 ] 
A. V. 

EDW.ARDS, JONATHAN, D.D. (1C29- 
17 12), con troversialist^asbomat Wrexham, 
Denbighshire,inl[129.Ueentereda8aservilor 
at Chnst Church, Oxford, in 1655, and took 
liis B.A. degree in October 1659. In 1662 
he was electedfellowuf Jesus, and proceeded 
B.D, in March 1869. His first preferment 
was the rectorv of Kiddingt<m, Oxfordshire, 
which he exchanged in 1081 for that of 
Hinton-Auimer, Hampsliire. On the pro- 
motion of John Ltoyd, principal of Jesus 
College, to the bishopric of St. David's, Ed- 
wards was unanimously elected (2 Nov. 1086) 
his successor; he was made D.D. on 1 Dec. 
16H6, and held the office of vice-chancellor 
from 1089 to 1091. In 1G87 he became 
urer of LlandafT, and waa proctor for 
the chapter of LlandatV io the convocation 
of 1702, He held, apparently along with 



Edwards 



124 



Edwards 



Hinton-Ampner, a living in Anglesea, and 
another in Carnarvonshire. 

Edwards published the first part of his 
' Preservative against Socinianism ' in 1693, 
but the work was not completed till ten 
years later. His fundamental position is 
that Faustus Socinus is not to be allowed to 
rank as a heretic, but treated, like Muham- 
mad, as the founder of a new religion (pt. i. 
p. 7). The Socinians, who had many pas- 
sages of arms with Edwards's contemporary 
and namesake, John Edwards, D.D. (1 GST- 
IT 16) [q. v.], scarcely noticed the * Preser- 
vative ; ' in fact, by the time it was finished, 
the Socinian controversy was practically over, 
its place beingr already taken by the Arian con- 
troversy, initiated by Thomas Emlyn [q. v.] 
The title of Edwards's book was borrowed by 
Edward Nares, D.D. (1746-1841) [q. v.] 

Edwards figures in the Antinomian con- 
troversy which agitated the presbyterians 
and independents of London, in consequence 
of the alleged anti-Calvinistic tendency of 
Dr. Daniel Williams's * Gospel Truth,' 1691. 
Stephen Lobb, the independent, quoted Ed- 
wards as condemning the positions of W^il- 
liams, but Edwards m a letter to Williams 
(dated from Jesus College, 28 Oct. 1697) 
justified the statements of Williams on the 
{>oints in dispute. A controversy on original 
sin with Daniel Whitby, D.D., Edwards did 
not live to finish. He died 20 July 1712. 
He is buried in the chapel of Jesus College, 
to the repairs of which he had given nearly 
1,000/. Ilis books he left to the college 
library. 

He published : 1. ' A Presen'ative against 
Socinianism,' &c., pt. i. Oxford, 1693, 4to ; 
8rd edition, 1698, 4to; pt. ii. 1694, 4to; 
pt. iii. MDCXDVii, i.e. 1697, 4to; pt. iv. 1703, 
4to ; the Index to the four parts is by Tliomas 
Heame. 2. 'Kemarks on a Book ... by 
Dr. Will. Sherlock . . . entitled, A Modest 
Examination of the Oxford Decree,' &c., 
Oxford, 1695, 4to. 3. * The Exposition given 
by the Bishop of Sarum of the 2nd Article 
. . . examined,' 1702 (Watt). 4. < The Doc- 
trine of Original Sin . . . vindicated from 
the Exceptions ... of D. Whitbv,' Oxford, 
1711, 8vo (Whitby replied in * A Full An- 
swer,' &c., 1712, 8vo). Edwards's letter to 
Williams appears at p. 70 of the latter's 
' Answer to the Report which the United 
Ministers drew up,* &c., 1698, 12mo. 

[Wood's Athen8eOxon.l692.ii. 898; Chalmers's 
Biog. Diet. 1814, ziii. 52; Edwards's works.] 

A. G. 

EDWARDS, LEWIS, D.D. (1809-1887), 
Welsh Calvinistic methodist, son of a small 
fiarmer, was bom at Pwllcenawon, Llanba- 



dam Fawr, Cardiganshire, 27 Oct. 1809. 
The family library was all Welsh, consisting- 
chiefly of religious books, and of these Ed- 
wards made good use. His first school was 
kept by a superannuated old soldier, the 
second by an uncle, the third by a clergy- 
man. At this last he began his acquaint- 
ance with Greek and Latin. His father in- 
tended him to remain at home on the farm. 
Probably about this time he puzzled his neigh- 
bours with metaphysical questions, asking, for 
instance, whether it were more proper to con- 
sider the creation as existing in God or God 
in creation. A neighbour induced the father 
to send him to resume his studies at Aber- 
ystwyth. He formed a permanent friendship 
with his new teacher, a Mr. Evans, who was 
a good mathematician. His resources failing, 
he set up a school on liis own account. About 
this time he first saw an English magazine. 
A chance sight of ' Blackwood ' gave him a 
strong desire to know something of English 
literature. 

His next move was to Llangeitho, to a 
school kept by a Rev. John Jones. Here he 
read the classics and began to preach. He 
failed in fluency, and his voice was not good. 
In 1830he left Llangeitho tobecome a teacher 
in a private family. Here he heard of the 
new university in London. He knew of no 
other open to a Calvinistic methodist, and 
sought the necessary permission of the as- 
sociation to study there. It was at last 
granted, but his funds only supported him 
m London through one winter. In 1832 he 
took charge of the English methodist church 
at Laughame in Carmarthenshire, where he 
remained a year and a half, and had useful 
practice in speaking English. He next studied 
at Edinburgh, where he worked hard, and was 
enabled, through the intervention of Professor 
Wilson (Cliristopher North), with whom he 
was a great favourite, to take his degree at 
the end of three, instead of four, years. He 
returned to Wales the first of his'denomina- 
tion to win the degree of M.A. He waa 
ordained at Newcastle Emlyn in 1837, and 
shortly after opened a school at Bala in con- 
junction with his brother-in-law, the Rev. 
David Charles [see Charles, Thomas, arf 
fin,'], and for fifty years was principal of 
what has now long been known as Bala 
College. In 1844 he started a small maga- 
zine, * Yr Esponiwr ' (* The Expositor ' ), and in 
January' 1845 he sent forth the first number 
of * Y traethodydd ' (* The Essayist ' ) , a quar- 
terly magazine, whicn has continued to appear 
regularly ever since. Of this he was editor 
for ten years, and in it some of his best essays 
made tneir first appearance. This magazine 
took its place at once as the best in the Ian- 



Edwards 



"S 



Edwards 



^age. There were essays on Homer, Goethe, 
Kant, Coleridge, Hamilton, Mill, &c. He 
was one of the most finished writers of Welsh 
in his day. Most of his essays were after- 
wards collected and published as ' Traethodau 
Uenyddol a Duwinyddol ' (' Essays, Literary 
and theological,* 1867, 2 vols.Svo). In 1847 he 
started the * Geiniogwerth ' (* Pennyworth' ). 
In 1855 he visited the continent to perfect his 
knowledge of German and French. Histiol- 
lege lectures were at first chiefly classical, but 
gradually became more theological. He lec- 
tured on the evidences, the principles of mo- 
rality, the laws of thought, the philosophies of 
Plato and Aristotle. He did not write nis lec- 
t ures, but it was his habit to study each subj ect 
thoroughly, smoking the whole time. He 
spoke without hesitation, but slowly, so that 
each student could write all while listening. 
His best-known work is his * Athrawiaeth yr 
lawn * (* Atonement * ), 1 800, of which an Eng- 
lish translation appeared in 1886 ; and a se- 
cond edition of tlie original, with a memoir 
bv his son. Principal Edwards, M.A., D.D., 
of Abervstwvth, in 1887. About 1862 he 
was offered the honorary degree of D.D. by 
Princeton College, U.S.A., but he declined it. 
His own university offered him the same 
degree in 1865, and he went to Edinburgh to 
receive it. In 1876 his friends and admirers 
gave him a handsome testimonial, which 
placed him for the future in a position of 
comfort. He died 19 July 1887, and his 
remains were interred in the same grave as 
those of Thomas Charles of Bala [q. v.], whose 
granddaughter he had married. 

[Principal Edwards's Memoir, 1887-] K. J.J. 

EDWARDS, RICHARD (1523 P-1566), 
poet and playwright, a native of Somerset^ 
shire, bom about 1523, was educated at Cor- 
pus Christi Colle^, Oxford. He took his 
oachelor's degree in 1544, and in the same 
year was elected to a fellowship at Corpus. 
In 1547 he was nominated student of Christ 
Church and created M.A. At Oxford he 
studied music under George Etheridge. On 
leaving the university he entered himself at 
Lincoln's Inn, but does not appear to have 
followed the profession of the law. He be- 
came a gentleman of the Chapel Royal, and 
in 1561 was appointed master of the children 
of the chapel. In January 1564-5 a tragedy 
by Edwards was performed by the children 
of the chapel before the queen at Rich- 
mond (Collier, -Hw^ory of English Dramatic 
Poetry^ 1879, i. 183). He attended the queen 
on her visit to Oxford in 1566, and composed 
for her entertainment the play of ' Palamon 
and Arcite,' which was actea in Christ Church 
Hall. The play (which has not come down) 



gave great satisfaction ; the queen ' laughed 
eartily thereat, and gave the author . . . 
great thanks for his pains' (Wood). Ed- 
wards died 31 Oct. 1566 (Hawkins, Hist, of 
Music, 1853, p. 521). 

Only one play of Edwards is extant, 'The 
excellent Comedie of two the moste faith- 
fullest Freendes, Damon and Pithias,' &c., 
1571, 4to ; 2nd edition, 1582. This play, 
which has merely an antiquarian interest, is 
reprinted in the various ecUtions of Dodsley's 
' Old Plays.' Many of Edwards's poems were 
published in * The Paradyse of Daynty De- 
vises,' which first appeared in 1576 and passed 
through eight editions in twenty-four years. 
It is statea on the title-page of the anthology 
that the * sundry pithie and learned inven- 
tions * were * devised and written for the most 
part by M. Edwards, sometime of her ma- 
jesties chapel.' Some of Edwards's poems 
are not without grace and tenderness. By 
his contemporaries he was greatly admiredf, 
and Thomas Twine proclaimed him to be 

The flower of our realm 
And Phcsnix of our age. 

Bamabe Googe eulogises him in 'Eglogs, 

Epitaphes, and Sonettes,' 1563 ; Turberville 

has an ' epitaph ' on him in * Epitaphs, Epi- 

' grams. Songs, and Sonnets,' 1567 (where me 




1589, and Meres in * Palladis Tamia,' 1598, 
have commendatory notices of him. A part 
of his song * In Commendation of Musick * 
(* Where gripy ng grief the hart would wound,' 
&c.) is given in * Romeo and Juliet,' act iv. 
sc. 5. Four of his poems are preserved in 
Cotton MS. Tit. A. xxiv. The *Mr. Ed- 
wardes' who wrote *An Epytaphe of the 
Lord of Pembroke* (licensed in 1569) is not 
to be identified with the author of * Damon 
and Pithias.' Warton mentions that a col- 
lection of short comic stories, printed in 1570, 
b.l., * Sett forth by Maister Richard Edwardes, 
mayster of her maiesties revels' (Edwards 
was not master of the revels), was among the 
books of * the late Mr. William Collins of 
Chichester, now dispersed.' 

[Wood's Athense, ed. Bliss, i. 353 ; Reg. Unir. 
Oxford, i. 208 ; Hawkins's Hist, of Music, 1853, 
pp. 362, 521, 924-7; Collier's Hist, of Engl. 
Dram. Poetry. 1879, i. 183-4, ii. 389-93 ; War- 
ton's Hist, of Engl. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iv. 213- 
220: Dodsley's Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, vol. iv.; 
Collier's Bibliogr. Cat.; Ritson's Bihl. Poet.; 
Corser's Collectanea.] A. H. B. 

EDWARDS, ROGER, D.D. (1811-1886), 
Welsh Calvinistic methodist, was bom in 
181 1, the year in which the Calvinistic metho- 



Edwards "6 Edwards 



dists first assumed the power to ordain their 
own ministers; and he grew up amid the 
controversy over Calvin's five great points 



Magazine/ and to start the * Botanical Ee~ 
gister/ the text of which was at first con- 
tributed by J. B. Ker-Gkiwler, and at a later 



Ebenezer Morris, John Elias, &c., were then period by Dr. John Lindley. Edwards died 
leading lights in the denomination. In 1835 '■ at Queen's Elms, Brompton, 8 Feb. 1819, in 
he became editor of * Cronicl yr Oes,* per- | his fifty-first year. 

haps the first Welsh political paper ; this he , [General Index, Bot. Mag. (1828), pp. x-xii; 
conducted for four years, writing most of it . Gent. Mag. (1819), vol. Ixxxix. pt. i. p. 188.] 
himself. The leaders in the * Chronicle * for j B. D. J. 

1836 on the * House of Lords,* ' The Ballot,' 

EDWARDS, THOMAS C/?. 1595), poet, 
was the author of two long narrative poems, 
/Cephalus and Procris' and 'Narcissus,' is- 
From 1839 to 1 874 Le was secretary of the Cal- I suea in a single volume by John Wolfe in 
vinistic Methodist Association. In January 1595. The book is dedicated to 'Thomas 
1845 appeared the first number of the * Trae- | Argall, Esquire,' and although Edwards's 
thodydd,' of which he was co-editor with his ' name does not appear on the title-page, it is 
name ' ' * ""^ ' ■" "^ --n loirer j.j *._ ^.i. ^.^ 

and 

1886 

ma 

of )Bala 



and * Church Rates * were stronglv radical, and 
they brought on young Edwards the charge 
of socialism and svmpathy with Tom Paine. 



iq. V.]), 1846-86. Besides this he Stationers' registers and licensed to Wolfe, 
two volumes of the * Preacher,' a A passage in Thomas Nashe's * Have with 
fiynm-book, the Welsh Psalmist ; * Methodist 
Diary;' James Hughes's * Expositor,' with 
additional notes ; Henry Rees', of Liverpool, 
* Sermons,' 3 vols. He was the first to publish 
a serial story in Welsli ; of these he wrote three. 



[Memoir in Drysorfa for September and Octo- 
ber 1886.] R. J. J. 



you to Saffron Walden ' (1596) referred to 
the poem, and was until recently misinter- 
preted to imply that Anthony Chute [q. v.] 
was its author. Mention is also made of a 
poem called *Cephalus and Procris' in WTil- 
liam] C[lerke]'s * PoUmanteia,' 1595. The 
work has only lately come to light. In 1867 
a fragment was discovered in Sir Charles 
EDWARDS, SYDENHAM TEAK Isham'slibrarj- at LamportHall, Nottingham; 
(1769!''-1819), natural historical draughts- in 1878 a complete copy, and the only one 
man, wns the son of a schoolmaster and or- known,was found in the Peterborough Cathe- 
panist at Aberjravcnnv. Having made copies dral Library. The latter was reprinted, with 
of certain plates in Curtis's * Flora Londi- elaborate critical apparatus, by Mr. W. E. 
ncnsis,' they wen.^ seen by a Mr. Denham, and Bucklev for the Roxburghe Club in 1882. 
by Iiim brought under the notice of Wil- * Cepha^us and Procris' is in heroic couplets, 
liam Curtis, the founder of the * Botanical 'Narcissus' in seven-line stanzas; Ovid's 
Magazine ' [q. v.], who was so pleased with stories are for the most part followed, but 
their execution that he sent for Edwards there is much originality in the general treat- 
to London, and there had him instructed in ment, and real poetic feeling throughout, 
drawing. From 1798 onwards Edwards Each poem concludes with a lyrical envoy ; 
made nearly the whole of tlie drawings for that to * Narcissus ' refers in appreciative 
the * Botanical Magazine,' and several for the terms to Spenser, Daniel, Wataon, and Mar- 
* Flora Londinensis.' He accompanied Curtis lowe under the names ' CoUyn,' * Rosamond,' 
on various excursions, that tlie plants and *Amintas,' and *Leander.' * Adon,* another 
animals they found might be drawn from life, of Edwards's heroes, is probably Shakespeare. 
His patron died in 1700, but Edwards con- The poet is doubtless identical with a Thomas 
tinned to furnish the * Botanical Magazine ' Edwards who contributed to Adrianus Ro- 
with drawings, and he also issued six parts manus's 'Parvum Theatrum Urbium,'Frank- 
of * Cynographia Britannica, consisting of fort, 1595, fifty-five Latin hexameters on 
Coloured Engravings of the various Breeds the cities of Italy (reprinted and translated 
of Dogs in Great Britain,' &c., London, in Robert Vilvain's * Enchiridium Epigram- 
1800-5, 4to. He also supplied the plates of matum Latino-Anglicum,' London, 1654). 
a serial publication, the * New Botanic Gar- Two short, poems signed *Edwardes,' from 
den,' which bf'gan in 1805, was completed in Tanner MS. 306, f. 175, are printed as by 
1807, and was reissued by a different publisher tlie author of * Cephalus and Procris ' in Mr. 
in 1812 with text, the title being altered to . Buckley's volume. 

'TheNewHoraBritannica.' In 1814 Edwards There is some reason to suppose that the 
was induced to withdraw from the * Botanical poet was an Oxford man, but it is not possible 



Edwards 



127 



Edwards 



to identify him with certainty. The name is 
a common one. One Thomas Edwards, of a 
Berkshire family, became fellow of All Souls' 
College, Oxford, in 1579, proceeded B.A. on 
20 March 1682, B.C.L. on 19 Nov. 1684, and 
D.C.L. on 17 Dec. 1590. He was afterwards, 
according to Wood, chancellor to the Bishop 
of London, and gave a few books to the Bod- 
leian Library and to Christ Church. 

A second Thomas Edwards (probably of 
Queens' College, Cambridge, B.A. 1578-9, 
M.A. 1682) became rector of Langenhoe, 
Essex, on 1 Oct. 1618; a third, the author 
of ' Gangrsena ' is noticed below ; a fourth 
was buried in Westminster Abbey on 21 April 
1624 ; a fifth had a son of tlie same name, 
who entered the Inner Temple in 1047; a 
sixth, a schoolmaster, is the subject of a 
poem in the Tanner MSS. 

[Rer. W. E. Buckley's Cepbalus and Procris 
(Roxburghe Club), 1882, contains all accessible 
information.] S. L. L. 

EDWARDS, THOMAS (1599-ia47),pu- 
ritan divine and author of * Gangrsena,' bom 
in 1599, was educated at Queens' College, 
Cambridge, and in due course proceeded to 
the two degrees in arts. On 14 July 1623 
he was incorporated at Oxford University, 
but he continued to reside at Cambridge, 
where, after taking orders, he was appointed 
a university preacner, and earned the name 
of * Young Luther.' In February 1627 he 
preached a sermon in which he counselled 
his hearers not to seek carnal advice when in 
doubt ; declared he woujd testify and teach 
no other doctrine though the day of judg- 
ment were at hand, and was committed to 
prison until he could find bonds for his appear- 
ance before the ecclesiastical courts. After 
being frequently summoned before the courts, 
he on 31 March 1628 received an order to 
make a public recantation of his teaching in 
St. Andrew's Church, with which he com- 
plied on 6 April, a document to that effect 
being drawn up and signed by the curate of 
the parish. Edwards did not remain much 
longer at Cambridge, and in the following year 
one of his name, who was in all probability 
the same, was licensed to preach in St. Bo- 
tolph's, Aldgate, London (Newcourt, Repert 
JSccl. i. 916). His nonconformist tendencies 
very soon excited attention, and it must have 
been shortly after his appointment that he 
found himself among tnose 'suppressed or 
suspended' by Laud (Prtnnb, Cant. Doome^ 
ed. 1646, p. 573). On regaining his liberty 
to preach, he recommenced his campaign 
against 'popish innovations and Arminian 
tenets ' at various city churches, at Alderman- 
bury, and in Coleman Street. In July 1640, 
on the delivery at Mercers' Chapel of a sermon 



which he himself describes (Gangr, i. 75) as 
' such a poor sermon as never a sectary in 
England durst have preached in such a place 
and at such a time,' an attachment was issued 
a^nst him, and he was prosecuted in the 
high commission court, but with what result 
is not known. In alluding to this incident 
Edwards summarises his controversial atti- 
tude at this time in the following words: 
' I never had a canonicall coat, never gave a 
peny to the building of Paul's, took not the 
canonicall oath, declined subscription for 
many years before the parliament ^though I 
practised the old conformity), woula not give 
ne oholum quidem to the contributions against 
the Scots, but dissuaded other ministers f 
much lesse did I yeeld to bow at the altar^ 
and at the name of Jesus, or administer the 
Lord's Supper at a table turned altarwise, 
or bring the people up to rails, or read the 
Book of Sports, or highly flatter the arch- 
bishop in an epistle dedicatory to him, or put 
articles into the high commission court against 
any.' "When the parliament took the govern- 
ment into their own hands, and the presby- 
terian party was in the ascendant, Edwards 
came forward as one of their most zealous 
supporters, not only preaching, praying, and 
stirring up the people to stand by them, but 
even advancing money {ib, pt. i. p. 2). He 
refused, he tells us (t6. pt. lii. pref.), many 
great livings, preferring to preach in varioua 
localities where he considered his ser\nce8 
were most needed. Christchurch, London^ 
Hertford, Dunmow, and Qodalming were 
among the places which he more frequently 
visited, and at one time he was in the habit 
of making three or four journeys a week 
between the last-named town and London. 
As a rule he refused to be paid for his ser- 
mons, and he boasted that, notwithstanding^ 
his constant preaching, he had for the two 
years 1645-6 received no more than 40/. per 
annum. He could, however, afford to be in- 
different in the matter of payment, since he 
had married a lady who brought with her a 
considerable fortune. As soon as the inde- 
pendents began to come prominently forward 
Edwards attacked them with unexampled 
fury from the pulpit, and in 1644 published 
' Antapoloda, or a full Answer to the Apo- 
logeticall if arration of Mr. Goodwin, Mr. ^ ye, 
Mr. Sympson, Mr. Burroughes, Mr. Bridge, 
Members of t he Assembly of Divines,' wherein 
are handled many of the controversies of these 
times, containing a violent indictment of the 
divines named on the title-page, but mild 
and reasonable by comparison with his next 
work. This was ' Gangnena ; or a Catalogue 
and Discovery of many Errours, Heresies, 
Blasphemies, and pernicious Practices of the 



Edwards 



128 



Edwards 



6ecUrie8 of this Time, vented and acted in 
England in these four last Years/ which ap- 
peared on 10 Feh. 1646. Sixteen sorts of sec- 
taries were enumerated, 180 errors or heresies, 
and twenty-eight alleged malpractices, the 
book concluding with anoutcry against tolera- 
tion, which wellnigh exhausted the language 
of abuse. The sensation produced by * Gan- 
grraena* was immense. A second edition was 
called for immediately, and answers to it were 
published in great numbers. The most im- 
portant of these were from the pens of Lil- 
Dume, Saltmarsh, Walwyn, and John Good- 
win (whose * Cretensis ; or a briefe Answer 
to an U Icerous Treatise . . . intituled " Gan- 
gr8ena,"*was published anonymously), and to 
these Edwards replied the same year with 
* The Second Part of Gangraena ; or a fresh and 
further Discovery of the Errours, Heresies, 
Blasphemies, and dangerous Proceedings of 
the Sectaries of this Time.* In this work there 
is a catalogue of thirty-four errors not previ- 
ously mentioned, and a number of letters from 
ministers throughout the country giving evi- 
dence in support of Edwards's charges against 
the indepenaents. The publication was fol- 
lowed by a fresh crop of pamphlets, and again 
Edwards retaliated with * The Third Part of 
Oangrajna ; or a new and higher Discovery 
of Errours,' &c. The resentment created by 
these successive attacks on the dominant 
party was so great that Edwards in 1647 
judged it wise to retire to Holland, where, 
almost immediately on his arrival, he was 
seized with an ague, from which he died on 
24 Aug. He left a daughter and four sons, 
the second of whom was John Edwards, 
1637-1716 [q. v.]. 

Any controversial value which Edwards's 
work might possess is almost entirely set at 
nought by the unrestrained virulence of his 
language, and the intemperate fury with 
which he attacked all whose theological opi- 
nions differed, however slightly, from his 
own. He did not hesitate to make outra- 
geous charges on the personal character of 
his opponents, and throughout his manner is 
far more maledictory than argumentative. 
Fuller (Appeal of Injured Innocence^ pt. vii. 
p. 602, ed. 1059) remarks : * I knew Mr. Ed- 
wards very well, my contemporary in Queens* 
CoUedge, who often was transported beyond 
due bounds with the keenness and eagerness 
of his spirit, and therefore I have just cause 
in some things to suspect him.* Milton, 
whose doctrine of divorce was error No. 154 
in the first part of * Gangra?na,* refers to him 
in his lines * On the New Forcers of Con- 
science under the Long Parliament:' — 
Men whose life, learning, faith, and pure intent 
Would hare been held in high esteem by Paul, 



Must DOW be named and printed heretics 
By shallow Edwards. 

Jeremiah Burrou^hes ( Vindication^ p. 2, ed. 
1646) writes of him : ' I doubt whether there 
ever was a man who was looked upon as a 
man professing godliness that ever manifested 
so much boldness and malice against others 
whom he acknowledged to be religious per- 
sons. That fiery ra^, that implacable, irra- 
tional violence of his against godly persons, 
makes me stand and wonder.' 

Minor works written by Edwards were : 
1. 'Reasons against the Independent Govern- 
ment of particular Con^gations,' 1641, an- 
swered by Katherine Chidley . 2. * A Treatise 
of the Civil Power of Ecclesiasticals, and of 
Suspension from the Lord's Supper,' 1642. 
3. ' The Casting down of the last Stronghold 
of Satan, or a Treatise against Toleration and 
pretended Liberty of Conscience* (the first 
part), 1647. 4. ' The Particular Visibility 
of the Church,' 1647. Of these Nos. 2 and 
4 are not in the librarv of the British Museum, 
but are assigned to Edwards by Wood {Fasti 
Oxon, i. 413). 

[Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ed. 1 81 3, iii. 82 ; 
HooVs Eccl. Biog. ed. 1847, iii. 557 ; NeaVs Hist, 
of the Puritans, iii. 120, 310 ; Wood's Fasti Oxon. 
(Bliss), i. 413 ; Biog. Brit. (Kippis), sub voc. and 
sub ' Edwards, John ; ' Gangrsna, passim.] 

A. V. 

EDWARDS, THOMAS (1652-1721), di- 
vine and orientalist, bom at Llanllechid, near 
Bangor, Carnarvonshire, in 1652, was edu- 
cated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where 
he took the two degrees in art.% B.A. 1673, 
M.A. 1677 {Cantab, Graduati, 1787,^, 128). 
In the early part of his life he lived with Dr. 
Edmund Castell [a. v.], and in 1685 he was 
engaged by Dr. John Fell, dean of Christ 
Church and bishop of Oxford, to assist in the 
impression of the New Testament in Coptic, 
almost finished by Dr. Thomas Marshall. At 
the same time he became chaplain of CThnst 
Church. He was presented to the rectory of 
Aldwinckle All Samts, Northamptonshire, in 
1707, and died in 1721. He left a Coptic 
lexicon ready for the press, and published 
1 . * A Discourse against Extemporary Prayer,' 
i 8vo, London, 1703. Edmund Calamy re- 
I ferred to this book in support of his charge 
of apostasy against Theophilus Dorrington 
[q. v.] {Defence of Moderate NoncoT^rmify, 
1703, pt. i. p. 257). Edwards retorted fiercely 
in 2. * Diocesan Episcopacy proved from Holy 
Scripture ; with a letter to Mr. Edmund Ca- 
lamy in the room of a dedicatory epistle/ 
8vo, London, 1705. 

[Works ; Bridges's Northamptonshire (Whal- 
ley), ii. 210, 211.] G. G. 



Edwards 



129 



Edwards 



EDWARDS, THOMAS (1699-1767), 
critic, was bom in 1699. His father and 
grandfather had been barristers, and Ed- 
wards, after a private education, was entered 
at Lincoln's Inn, where he took chambers in 
1721. We learn from one of his sonnets 
upon *a family picture' that all his four 
brothers and four sisters died before him. 
His father dying when he was a young man, 
he inherited a good estate. He preferred lite- 
rature to law, and resided chiefly upon his 
paternal estate at Pitshanger, Middlesex. In 
1739 he bought an estate at Turrick, Elles- 
borough, Buckinghamshire, where he resided 
from 1740 till his death. He was elected F.S. A. 
20 Oct. 1745. Edwards is chiefly known by 
his controversy witli Warburton. A corre- 
spondent of the ^Gentleman's Magazine' (lii. 
268 ) states, upon the alleged authority of Ed- 
wards himself, that he was educated at Eton, 
and elected to a fellowship at King's Col- 
legfe, Cambridge, and was allowed to retain 
his fellowsliip after accepting a commission 
in the army. While a young officer, it is 
added, he met Warburton at Kalph Allen's 
house. Prior Park, and confuted him in a 
question of Greek criticism, showing that 
Warburton had been misled by trusting to a 
French translation. As Edwards was only 
a year younger than Warburton, was never 
at Eton or King's College, was probably never 
in the army, and had certainly been a barris- 
ter for twenty years when Warburton first 
made Allen's acquaintance (1741), the story 
is chiefly apocryphal. Edwards is said to 
have first attacked Warburton in a * Letter 
to the Author of a late Epistolary Dedica- 
tion addressed to Mr. Warburton,' 1744. In 
1747, upon the appearance of Warburton's 
edition of Shakesp>eare, Edwards published a 
* Supplement,' which reached a third edition 
in 1748, and was then called * The Canons 
of Criticism, and a Glossary, being a Sup- 
plement to Mr. Warburton'd edition of Shat- 
spear, collected from the Notes in that cele- 
brated work and proper to be bound up with 
it. By the other Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn.' 
Tlie first * Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn ' was 
Philip Carteret Webb, who published a pam- 
phlet under that name in 1742. The * Canons 
of Criticism ' reached a sixth edition in 1768 
and a seventh edition in 1705. It professes 
to carry out a plan which Warburton, as he 
says in his preface, had once contemplated, 
of piving explicitly his * Canons of Criticism.' 
It IS a very brilliant exposure of Warburton's 
grotesque audacities. Johnson, who had a 
Kindness for Warburton, admits that Ed- 
wards made some good hit«, but compares 
him to a fly stinging ^ a stately horse ' (Cro- 
XEH, Bofwell, ii. 10). Edwards's assault 

VOL. XVII. 



was * allowed (as Wart on says) by all im- 
partial critics to have been decisive and judi- 
cious.* Warburton retorted by a note in a 
fresh edition of the * Dunciad,' which greatly 
annoyed Edwards, who took it for an attacK 
upon his gentility, and replied indignantly in 
a preface to later editions. Warburton dis- 
avowed this meaning, but in very oflensive 
terms, in further notes (Pope, Workjtj 1751, 
i. 188, V. 288, notes to Essay on Criticism 
and Dunciad), Other opponents of War- 
burton naturally sympathised with Edwards, 
and Akenside addressed an ode to him upon 
the occasion. 

Edwards was a writer of sonnets, of which 
about fifty are collected in the last edi- 
tions of the * Canons of Criticism,' many 
from Dodsley's and Pearch's collections. They 
are of very moderate excellence, but interest- 
ing as being upon the Miltonic model, and 
attempts at a form of poetry which was then 
entirely neglected. One 01 them is an an- 
swer to an ode from the 'sweet linnet,' Mrs. 
Chapone. Most of the others are com- 
plimentary addresses to his acquaintance. 
Edwards had a large number of literary 
friends, with whom he kept up a correspond- 
ence. Among them were R, O. Cambridge, 
Thomas Birch, Isaac Hawkins Browne, 
Arthur and George Onslow, Daniel Wray, 
and Samuel Richardson. Many of his let- 
ters are printed in the third volume of Ri- 
' chardson s correspondence. Six volumes of 
, copies of his letters now in the Bodleian 
i Library include these, with unpublished 
I letters to Richardson, Wilkes, and others. 
I Richard Roderick, F.R.S. and F.SA., of 
Queens' College, Cambridge, was another in- 
timate friend, who helped him in the * Canons 
of Criticism.' Edwards died 3 Jan. 1757 
while visiting Richardson at Parson's Green. 
He was buried in EUesborough churchyard, 
I whore there is an epitaph by his * two 
j nephews and heirs, Joseph Paice and Na- 
1 thaniel Mason.' To the * Canons of Criticism ' 
(1758) is annexed an * Account of the Trial 
of the letter Y, alias Y.' He also wrote a 
tract, published after his death, called * Free 
and Candid Thoughts on the Doctrine of 
Predestination,' 1761. It * contained nothing 
new.' 

[Notice prefixed to Canons of Criticism, 1758 ; 
Biog. Brit. ; Richardson's Correspondence (1804), 
iii. 1-139 ; Letters in B(><lleian ; Watson's War- 
burton, pp. 322-35 ; Nichols's Anecdotes, ii. 
198-200, ix. 623 ; Nichols's lllustr. iv. 631-2.1 

L. S. 

ED WARDS, THOMAS (1729-1785), di- 
vine, son of Thomas Edwards, bom at Co- 
ventry in August 1729, was educated at the 
free grammar school there. In 1747 he entered 



Edwards 



130 



Edwards 



Clare Hall, Cambridge, and proceeded B.A. 
1750, M.A. 1754, and was subsequently fel- 
low of Clare. He was ordained deacon 1751, 
and priest 1753, by Dr. F. Comwallis, bishop 
of Lichfield and Coventry. In 1755 he pul>- 
lished 'A New English Translation of the 
Psalms,' &c. (Monthly BevieWj xii. 485), and 
in 1758 a sermon preached at St. MichaeFs. 
In 1758 he became master of the free gram- 
mar school and rector of St. John the Baptist, 
Coventry. In this year he married Ann Bar- 
rott. 

In 1759 Edwards published * The Doctrine 
of Irresistible Grace proved to have no foun- 
dation in the Writings of the N. T.,' a book 
of some importance in the Calvinist and Ar- 
minian controversy, and in 1762 * Prolego- 
mena in Libros Veteris Testamenti Poeticos ' 
(ib. XX. 32-5), to which he added an attack 
upon Dr. Lowth's * MetricoB Harianoe brevis 
Confutatio,* which led to a controversy of 
some length. In 1766 he proceeded D.D., 
and in 1770 was presented to Nuneaton in 
Warwickshire, where he passed the rest of 
his life, having severed his connection with 
Coventry in 1779. He lost his wife in 1784, 
and dying in June 1785 was buried at Foles- 
hill. He was of a mild and benevolent 
temper, and fond of retirement. His chief 
friend was Dr. E. Law, bishop of Carlisle. 
His other works are : 1 . ' Epistola ad doctis- 
flimum R. I^owthium,* 1765. 2. Two Dis- 
sertiitions, 1767. 3. *Du» Dissert at iones,' 
1768. 4. *Tlio Indispensable Duty of Con- 
tending for tlio Faith/ 1773. 5. *Selecta 
qucodam Th(?ocriti Idyllia* (350 lines of Theo- 
critus, 250 pages of notes, and 20 pages of 
addenda, kc.) 

[Kippis's Biog. Brit. 1793, v. 559; Monthly 
Eeriew, 1. c. et passim ; Cantabrigienscs Gra- 
duati, p. 128; R. Lowth's De S.icra Poesi 
Hebraeorum, 3rd ed. pp. 473-6 ; Watt's J^ibl. 
Brit. 1824, p. 331.] N. D. F. P. 

EDWARDS, THOMAS, LL.D. {fl. 1 810), 
divine, was son of Thomas Edwards (1729- 
1785) Tq. v.] He graduated LL.B. in 1782 
from Clare College, Cambridge. In 1787 he 
was a fellow of Jesus College, and took his 
LL.D. degree. He published 1. Plutarch, 
* De Educatione Liberorum,* with notes, 1791, 
8vo. 2. * A Discourse on the Limits and Im- 
portance of Free Inquiry in matters of Re- 
ligion,' Butt, 1792, 8vo. 3. 'Remarks on 
Dr. Kipling s Preface to Beza,' part i. 1793, 
8vo. 4. ' Criticisms relating to the Dead,' 
London, 1810, 8vo. 5. Various sermons. 
N. Nisbett, rector of Tunstall, made several 
attacks upon Edwards's biblical criticisms. 

[Brit. Mas. Cat. ; Cooper's Memorials of Cam- 
bridge, i. 48.] 



EDWARDS^ THOMAS (1775 .s»-l 845), 
legal writer, bom about 1775, studied at 
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded 
LL.B. in 1800 and LL.D. in 1805. He was 
also a fellow of Trinity Hall, and was ad- 
mitted advocate at Doctors' Commons. Ed- 
wards was a magistrate for the county of 
Surrey, and took considerable interest in 
questions connected with the improvement 
of the people. He died at the Grove, Car- 
shalton, on 29 Oct. 1845. Edwards wrote : 
1. * Reports of Cases argued and determined 
in the High Court of Admiralty ; commen- 
cing with the Judgments of bir "William 
Scott, Easter Term, 1808,' 1812; reprinted 
in America. 2. *A Letter to the Lord- 
lieutenant of the County of Surrey on the 
Misconduct of Licensing Magistrates and the 
consequent Degradation of the Magistracy,* 
1825. 3. ' Reasons for Refusing to Sign the 
Lay Address to the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury,' 2nd edition, 1835 (concerning the 
ritual of the church). 

[Cat. of Cambr. Grad. ; Qont. Mag. December 
1845, p. 662 ; Brit. Mus. Cat.] F. W-t. 

EDWARDS, THOMAS (Caerf.^llwcii), 
(1779-1858), Welsh author, bom in 1779 at 
Northop in Flintshire, was apprenticed at 
fourteen to a saddler named Birch, and in tliis 
family he cultivated his tast« for Welsh litera- 
ture. He married in 1801 or 1802, and by 
this means was enabled to improve his condi- 
tion very materially. He removed to London 
and became a secretary to one Bell first of all, 
and afterwards to Nathaniel M. Rothschild. 
In 1838 he was selected with five others, in 
connection with the Abergavenny Eisteddfod, 
to improve the Welsh orthography. Nothing, 
however, came from the united action of these 
men ; but in 1845 Edwards published his 
' Analysis of Welsh Orthography.' He was 
for many years a member of the * Cymmro- 
dorion' and delivered many of their lectures; 
that on * Currency' was afterwards published. 
But his great work was his * English and 
Welsh Dictionary,' published by Evans (Holy- 
well), 1850, second edition 1864. Another 
edition was published in the United States 
of America. This is considered bv some 
authorities the best dictionary in tlie lan- 
guage. He was a frequent contributor to the 
Welsh magazines of the day. He was mar- 
ried three times. He died at 10 Cloudesley 
Square, London, 4 June 1858, and was in- 
terred in Highgate cemetery. 

[Foulkes's Geirlj'fr Bywgrafliadol.] 

R. J. J. 

EDWARDS, WILLIAM (1719-1789), 
bridge-builder, youngest son of a farmer of 
the same name, was bom in 1719 at Eglwys- 



Edwards 



I3> 



Edwardston 



ilun,Glamofg'ansliire. TLeBkillwhiclihBdia- 
Jtluved ia the construction of ' dry' wttlla for 
Ills father's fields early attracted notice, and 
»t the age of twenty ha was employed to 
build a large iron forgo at Cflrdiff. During 
bis stay ia Cardiff, where he erected many 
fiimtlar buildings, he lodged vith a blind 
baker who taught him the ICn^lish language. 
In 1746, having ia the meantime returned to 
bis native parish, ha undertook to build a 
bridge over the river TafT. The bridge was 
built on piers, and in two and a half veara 
it was washed away by a flood which Jrove 
heavy objects against the piers. Edwards had 
^iven sureties to a large amount that the 
bridgB should Bland for seven years, and at 
Once set about its reconstruction. He now 
tcsolvcd to build a briJga of a aingls arch 
of 140 feet span. lie carried out this plan ; 
but no sooner vras the arch completed than 
the immense pressure on the haunches of the 
bridge fotcedthe keystones out of theirplace, 
and rendered his work useless. In 1751 he 



arch, but perforated each of the haunches 
with three cylindrical openings runniugright 
through, by which means the pressure was so 
reduced as to render the masonry perfectly 
secure. The bridge was finally finished in 
1 755, and was greatly admired. It was claimed 
for it that it was the longest and most beauti- 
ful bridge of a single span in the world. The 
success of this work procured for Edwards 
cthercontractsofthe same kind, and a number 
of the principal bridges in South Wales were 
erectedbyhim. These included three bridges 
over the Towy, the Usk bridge, Bettws and 
Llandovery bri dges in Carmarthenshi re, A ber- 
avnn bridge in Glamorganshire, and Glasbury 
bridge, near Hay inBrecknockdiire, Thougn 
none of his later efforts were more picturesque 
than his bridge over the Taff, they were more 
convenient, OS the great height of the arch 
made the approaches to the summit a very 
Btoep slope. He discovered that when there 
was no danger of the abutments giving way, 
it was possible to construct arches describing 
much smaller segments, and of far less than 
the customary height. Thestyle of Edwards's 
masonry was peculiar, being similar to that 
employed in far earlier times, and he admitted 
that he acquired it by the careful study of 
thoruins of the old castle of Caerphilly, which 
wnH situated in the parish of Eglwysilan. 
Throughout his life he carried on the occu- 
pation of a farmer in addition to his hridge- 
huilding. He also officiated as minister in 
hia parish meeting-house, having been or- 
dained, according to the practice of the Welsh 
independuita, in 1760. Ilia ■ermona, which 



wore always in the Welsh language, werB 
considered very effective. He died in 1789, 
leaving sii children. Three of his four sons 
were trained to their father's trade, and David, 
the second, inheritod a large portion of his 
skill. Among the bridges built by David 
were that at Llandilo over the Towy, and 
Newport bridge over the Usk. 

[MaUtin's Scensry of South Walr-s, pp. 83-94 
(where there is an enirriiviiig of tbo Taff bridge); 
Wiiliama'a Eminent Welshmen, p. 133 ; Georgian 
Era, iv. fiOI.] A. V. 

EDWARDS, WILLIAM CAMDEN" 
(1777-1855), engraver, was bom in Mon- 
mouthshire in 1777. Early in the nineteenth 
century he went to Bungay in Suffolk to en- 
grave porlmits nnd illustrations for the Bible, 
' Pilgrim's Progress,' and similar works pub- 
lished by Mr. Brightly of that place. Ha 
left Bungayafter Brightly's death, hut even- 
tually returned and settled there until his 
death on 22 Aug, 1855. He was buried in 
the cemetery of Holy Trinity, Bungay. A. 
complete series of his engravings and etchings 
was in the collection of Mr. Dawson Turner, 
Edwards was very industrious, and his pro- 
ductions were of the most varied description ; 
the majority of his plates were portraits, in 
which he excelled. Among these were Sir 
Joshua Ileynolds, Dr. Johnson, after Rey- 
nolds, Sir William Chambers, after lieynolds, 
Flaxman, after J. Jackson, Hogarth, after 
himself, Fuseii, after Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
James Hogg, after C. Foi, I). Sayors, after 
Opie, and many others. Amone his other 
plates were ' Milton and his Daughters,' after 
Romnev, a landscape after Salvator Rosa, and 
'The Head of St. John the Baptist on a 
Charger,' from a picture in Mr, Dawson Tur- 
ner's collection. 

[Note by Mr. Dawson Turner in the sale cata- 
logue of bis collection; nioDuinental inscription 
at Ilungay, and olbor information pec the Itov. 
T.K.WeatbechBad,St.Mftrj'i, Bungay.] L, C. 

EDWARDSTON, THOMAS (rf. 1396), 
Augiislinian friar, is said to have been bom at 
a place called Edwardston in Suffolk, whence 
he derived his name. He studied at Oxford, 
where he ohtainedtheD.D. degree. He became 
a friareremiteofthe order of St. Augustine at 
the monastery of Clare in his native county, 
and was eventually made prior. He was con- 
fessor to Lionel, duke of Clarence, and accom- 
panied him to Italy on the occasion of his 
marriage with the daughter of the Duke of 
Milan. On his return to England, Edwards- 
ton took over the chai^ of archiepiscopal 
duties, but in what diocese is not known ; it 
was probably in a temporary vacancy, for it 
does not appear that he was ever raised to 



Edwin 



132 



Edwin 



the full dippiity of an archbishop. lie died 
at Clare 20 May 1390, and was buried in his 
monastery. He was the author of * Sermones 
Solemnes/ * Determinationes Theologicflc,* 
and * Lecturao Scholasticae.' 

[Fuller's Worthies, Suflfolk, p. 69 ; Tanner's 
Bibl. Brit. p. 252 ; Stevens's Hist, of Abbeys 
nnd Monasteries, ii. 219 ; Bale's Script t. Brit. 
Cat. i. 513.] A. V. 

EDWIN or EADWINE, Lat. yEDUiNUS 
(585P-633), king of Northumbria, son of 
yElla,kingof Deira, was three years old when, 
after his mther*s death in 688, he was forced 
to flee from Deira by the Bernician king, 
iEthelric, who conquered the country and 
ruled over both the Northumbrian kingdoms. 
He, perhaps, first found shelter in Gwynedd, 
or North Wales, and after some wanderings 
was received by Cearl, king of the Mercians, 
who gave him his daughter Coenburh to 
wife. By her ho had two sons, Osfrith and 
Eadfrith,' boni during his exile. yEthelric*8 
son and succoi?sor, yEthelfrith, sought to get 
him into his power, and probably made it un- 
safe for him to remain longer in Mercia, for in 
617 he sought refuge with lljedwald,kingof 
the East-Angles, who promised that he should 
be safe with him. As soon as /Ethelfrith 
heard that he was with Raidwnld, he sent 
messengers to the East-Anglian king offering 
him a large sum of money if he would slay 
his guest, and when his offer was refused 
sent a second and a third embassy with larger 
offers and with threats of war. Rnedwald 
promised either to slay the exile or to deliver 
him to his enemy. The promise was heard 
by one of Eadwine's friends, who came to 
him in the evening, called him from his sleep- 
ing-chamber, and when he had come out of 
doors told him of the king's intentions and 
offered to guide him to a place of safety. 
Eadwine's greatness of soul is shown by his 
reply : * he would not,' lie said, * l)e the first 
to treat the king's pledge as worthless ; up 
to that time I I.tcI wald had done him no wrong 
and he would not distrust him ; but if he 
was to die, it were better that the king should 
slay him than any meaner man ; he had sought 
refuge in every part of Britain, and was weary 
of wandering.' He spent the night in the 
open air in doubt and sorrow, and as he sat 
on a stone in front of the palace a man of 
foreign mien and in a foreign garb drew near 
to him, and asked him why he sat there at 
that hour of night. When Eadwine an- 
swered that it was nothing to him, the 
stranger declared that he knew the cause of 
his trouble, and asked what he would give 
to one who should persuade Rrodwald to 
change his mind, and would promise that ho 



should have greater power .than all the kings 
that had reigned over the English race ; would 
he listen to the counsel of such a one when 
he bade him live a nobler life than anv of 
his house ? Eadwine gave the req^uired pro- 
mise, and the stranger laid his right hand 
upon his head, saying: 'When this sign shall 
come to thee, remember this hour and mv 
words,' and then vanished so quickly that 
Eadwine was sure that it was a spirit that 
had appeared to him. Soon afterwards his 
friend came to him again and told him that 
the king had changed his intentions, and had 
resolved to keep faith with him, and that 
this change had been brought about by the 
queen, who had remonstrated privately with 
her husband on the treachery he contem- 
plated. The stranger who appeared to Ead- 
wine was doubtless the Roman priest Pauli- 
nus, who seems to have come from Kent to 
East Ajiglia about this time ; for Rocdwakl 
had been baptised, though he had in a mea- 
sure relapsed. Paulinus had, of course, heard 
how matters stood, and hoped by this inter- 
view with Eadwine to prepare the way for 
the evangelisation of the north in case Ead- 
wine overcame his enemy. And it is not 
unlikely that Rfledwald's seeming intention 
to betray his guest was only a device to de- 
ceive yEthelfrith ; for almost as soon as the 
messengers of the Northumbrian king had 
returned, the East-Anglian army attacked 
him, before he had time to gather his whole 
force together, and he was defeated and slain 
in a battle on the eastern bank of the river 
Idle. 

The victory of Rjedwald gave Eadwino 
his father's kingdom of Deira, and he at once 
made war on JBemicia, drove yEthelfrith'» 
sons, and a large number of young nobles 
who adhered to them, to t^ike refuge among* 
the Picts or the Scots of Dalriada, and ruled 
over a united Northumbrian kingdom, making 
York the centre of his government. lie ap- 
pears to have extended his dominions north- 
wards and to have fortified Edinburgh (Ead- 
winesburh), which seems to preserve his 
name (Skene, Celtic Scotland, 1. ^40). On 
the west he conquered from the Britons the 
kingdom of Elmet, which may be describeil 
as roughly represented by the West Riding- 
of Yorkshire, perhaps raised the earthworks 
at Barwick, and hau a royal residence at the 
ruined Cumpodunum, which has been identi- 
fied both with Doncaster and with Tanfield 
on the Yore (Nennius, p. 63 ; B^da, Jfht. 
Jv'cles. ii. c. 14; Making of England, pp. 253- 
257 ; Archceologia, i. 221 ; Fasti Eboracenses^ 
p. 43). The conquest of Elmet may have 
led to that of the southern part of the present 
Lancashire, and also of Chester (Gbeeit), for 



Edwin 



^33 



Edwin 



£ad wine's power extended to the western 
eea, and he conquered the isles of Anglesea 
and Man {Hist. Eccles. ii. c. 5). At the same 
time it must be remembered that Chester 
had been conquered by-^thelfrith, Eadwine's 

S-edecessor, and that some of the glory which 
(eda ascribes to Eadwine must have been 
the fruit of yEthelfritVs victory in 613. 
After Ka2dwald*s death, which happened soon 
after his victory on the Idle, the East- Ang- 
lian power declined, and Eadwine gained 
authority over the Trent valley, his superi- 
ority was acknowledged by the East- Anglian 
king, and he had a * mastery over Mid-Bri- 
tain * (Green). In 625 he married ^thel- 
burh, sister of Eadbald [q. v.], king of Kent, 
and daughter of -^!lthelberht, the convert of 
Augustine. As Eadbald was at first unwil- 
ling to give his sister to a heathen, Eadwine 
promised that she and her attendants should 
nave full liberty to practise their religion, 
and held out hopes that he would adopt it 
if on examination it commended itself to 
him. Eadburh was therefore accompanied 
to her future husband*s court by Paulinus, 
who was ordained bishop before he left Kent, 
and other companions. Soon after his mar- 
riage Eadwine received a letter from Boni- 
face V, exhorting him to give heed to the 
teaching of Paulinus, to accept the queen's 
religion, and to cast away his idols. With 
the letter the pope sent some costly robes, 
and also a letter to ^thelburh, to encourage 
her in her efforts for her husband's conver- 
«on, and with it a silver mirror and an ivory 
comb inlaid with gold (Bieda quotes these 
letters somewhat too late in his account of 
Eadwine, 620-7, for Boniface died on 22 Oct. 
€25). The extension of Eadwine's power 
to the south and his alliance with Kent 
thri'atenied the independence of Wessex, and 
in 620 Gwiclielm [q. v.], the West-Saxon king, 
6ent an assassin named Eumer to slay him 
with a poisoned dagger. Eumer found the king 
holding his court on the Derwent on 17 April, 
and on pretence of bringing a message from 
his master gained admission to the king's 
presence and rushed upon him with his dag- 

§er. I^illa, one of the king^s tliegns who was 
ear to him, saw his lord's danger, and as he 
had no shield placed his owm body in front 
of Ead wine ana received Eumer's blow, which 
was given with so much force that the weapon, 
after passing through the body of the faitnful 
thegn and slaying him on the spot, wounded 
the king. In the night the queen was de- 
livered of a daughter named Eanfiied [q. v.] 
Paulinus heard Eadwine give thanks to his 
gods for his daughter's birth, and told him 
that he ought rather to give thanks to Christ 
that hifl queen had been preserved in great 



peril. The king was pleased and declared 
that he would renounce his idols and serve 
Christ, if he would give him victory over the 
West-Saxon king, and to show that he was 
in earnest he allowed Paulinus to baptise his 
daughter and eleven members of his house- 
hold. He defeated the West-Saxons, and his 
victory extended his over-lordship over the 
whole of England except Kent, which was 
in alliance with him, so that he is reckoned 
by Bveda as the fifth of the monarchs, called 
in the * Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ' * Bretwalda,' 
who had supremacy over the other kings of 
the English {Hist. Eccles, ii. c. 5j A,S. 
Chron.f sub an. 827). 

Although Eadwine did not worship idols 
after he made his promise to Paulinus, he 
did not embrace Christianity immediately 
upon his victory over the West-Saxons, but 
put himself under the teaching of Paulinus , 
consulted with his chief counsellors on th« 
matter, and constantly meditated alone on 
the course he should take. Paulinus saw 
that he was of too haughty a spirit readily 
to accept the religion of Christ, and accord- 
ingly reminded him of the promise he had 
made to the stranger who appeared to him 
when he was in trouble at Riedwald's court. 
He placed his right hand upon his head and 
asked whether he recognised the sign, evi- 
dently still leaving him to imagine that he 
had seen a ghostly messenger whose visit had 
been revealed to the bishop (Hist. Eccles. ii. 
c. 12, 17). The king trembled and would 
have fallen at his feet, but he raised him up, 
and, bidding him remember how he had thrice 
pledged his word, exhorted him to delay no 
longer to gain salvation from the eternal 
torments of the wicked. Eadwine answered 
that he would accept Christianity, and held 
a meeting of his wutan in order to persuade 
them to be baptised with him. After some 
discourse he began to ask them singly whether 
they would consent. The first to answer 
was his chief priest, Coifi, who declared that 
he would do so because he had gained nothing 
by his devout worship of the old gods, ana 
hoped that the new religion might be more 
profitable to him. Next, one of the king's 
chief nobles replied by comparing the life of 
man to a sparrow that on some winter's night 
might fly in at a door of the hall where the 
king was feasting with his ealdormen and 
thegns, be for a moment in the warmth and 
light, and then fly out by another door again 
into the darkness and tempest. * Even so,' he 
said, ' it is with our life; we know not \vhence 
it came or whither it goeth. Wherefore if 
this new teaching can tell us aught of these 
things, we should do well to accept it.' Others 
spoke to the same eflfect, and lastly Coifi 



Edwin 



134 



Edwin 



declared that the words of Paulinus seemed 
to him to be true, and proposed that the king 
should agree that the heathen temples and 
altars should be burnt. Eadwine gave pub- 
lic permission to Paulinus to preach, allowed 
Coifi to profane and bum the temple at God- 
mundham, near Market "Weighton, where 
probably the assembly was held, and on Easter 
bunday, 12 April 027, was baptised, together 
with his sons Osfrith and Eadfrith and many 
more, in the wooden church of St. Peter, 
which he had built at York. The baptism of 
Eadwine is claimed as tlie work of a British 
missionary, Run, the son of Urbgen (Nen- 
Kius, p. 64; Annates CambrenseSy p. 832), 
and it is also said that Eadwine, when he fled 
from Deira, found his first shelter with Cad- 
van, king of Gwynedd, and was brought up 
as a christian at his court. Tlie suggestion 
that Run and Paulinus were the same (Ste- 
venson^ cannot bo admitted, and though it 
is not improbable that Eadwine did flee to 
the Welsh king, the storj^ of his baptism by a 
Welsh bishop must be rejected in the face of 
Beeda's narrative {Ecclesiastical Documents^ 
i. 124, iii. 75). After his baptism he ap- 
pointed York as the episcopal see of Paulinus, 
and began to build a larger churcli of stone. 
This church, which was square, or rather 
oblong, and of the basilican type, with rows 
of. columns, contained the original wooden 
church, wliich was kept as an oratory within 
it (Hist. Eccles. ii. c. 14 ; Alcuin, Carmen de 
Po7iti/icibuSf v. 220). Eadwine was earnest 
in the work of conversion; he induced Eorp- 
wald of East Anglia to accept Christianity 
with all his kingdom, and the rs^orthumbrian 
king and his queen were with Paulinus 
when, for thirty-six days, the bishop taught 
a great multitude near the Cheviots, and bap- 
tised them in the Glen, and again when he 
baptised a large number in the Trent. Ac- 
cordingly Christianity made great progress in 
Deira, where the king's influence wus strong, 
while in IJernicia no churches wore built. 
Throughout all Eadwine's empire there was 
at this time such peace and order that it was 
said that a woman might walk through the 
land alone with her new-born child, from sea 
to sea, and none would do her harm. And 
the king cared for the comfort of his people, 
for he made drinking-foun tains alongside the 
high-roads, and by each set up a stake to 
which a brazen cup was hung, and whether 
for fear or for love of him no one carried ofi* 
these cups. He proclaimed the excellence of 
Lis kingdom by the stAte he kept, for when 
he rode with his thegus from place to place 
banners of purple and gold were carried Ije- 
fore him, and even when he walked along 
the streets of a town a standard called ^ tuuf,' 



a tuft of feathers on a spear, went before 
him. His greatness was a menace to the 
rising power of Mercia, and its heathen king^ 
Penda, who had already routed the West- 
Saxons, made alliance with Ca^dwalla [q. v.], 
king of Gwynedd, and in 033 the allied 
armies of the Welsh and the Mercians marched 
against him. Eadwine advanced to meet 
them, and gave them battle on 12 Oct. at 
Heathfield, probably Hatfield Chase, near 
Doncaster. His army was totally routed, and 
he and his eldest son, Osfrith, were slain. 
Eadwine's head was t^ken to York and 
buried in the church of St. Peter that he had 
begun, in the porch of St. Gregory ; his body 
was buried in the monastery of Whitby 
(Hist Eccles. ii. 20, iii. 24). He was forty- 
eight at the time of his death. The battle 
of Heathfield broke up Eadwine's kingdom 
into its two component parts, for Osric, a 
cousin of Eadwine, succeeded him in Deira, 
while the Bemicians chose a king of their 
own royal house, Eanfrith, the son of yEthel- 
frith. It also overthrew Christianity in the 
north, for both Osric and Eanfrith, though 
they had been baptised, turned back to pa- 
ganism. Shortly before Eadwine's death he 
sent to Pope lionorius requesting that he 
would grant Paulinus the pall. The pope's 
answer and the pall did not arrive until after 
the king had fallen. Paulinus fled from 
Northumbria, and with the queen and her two 
children and Iffi, the son of Osfrith, sought 
shelter in Kent. Eadfrith, Eadwine's younger 
son bv his first wife, Coenburh, fled to his 
father s victor, Penda, probabl v to escape from 
Osric, and was treacherously slain by his host. 
Of Eadwine's children by -Silthelburh, a son, 
-^i^thelhun, and a daughter, ^theldryth, died 
young, and were buried at York; another 
son, Vuscfrea, and a daughter, Eanfla^d, were 
taken by their mother to the court of their 
uncle Eadbald. Vuscfrea was sent to be 
educated at the court of Dagobert, and died 
there, and Eanflicd fq. v.] became the wife 
of the Northumbrian mng, Oswiu. Eadwine 
obtained a place in the calendar, and an ac- 
count is given of him in the *NovaLegenda,' 
p. 1 10 : 4 Oct. is the day of St. Edwin, king 
and martyr (Acta SS., Bolland, Oct. vi. 108). 

[Bfrda) Hist. Eccles. and Nennius, Ilist. Brit. 
(Engl. Hist. Soc); Anglo-Saxon Chron.andAn- 
imlcs CinnLrcnses, Men. Hist. Brit.; Alcuin, 
Cnrmen d« Pontificibus, Historians of York, i. 
(Rolls Ser.) ; lladdim and Stubbs's Councils and 
Ecclesiastif»al Documents; Green's Makins^ of 
England ; Raiue's Fasti Eboracenses.] W. H. 

EDWIN, ELIZABETH REBECCA 

(1771 P-1854), actress, was the daughter of 
an actor named Richards, who, with his wife, 
was engaged at the Crow Street Theatre, 



Edwin 



135 



Edwin 



Dublin. At this house, when eight years old, 
she appeared in Prince Arthur and other ju- 
Tenile characters, including a part written ! 
specially for her by 0*Keefe in his lost and . 
forgotten farce, * The Female Club.' She also, 
for her benefit, played Priscilla Tomboy in 

* The Romp/ an abridged rersion of Bicker- 
BtAffe's * Love in the City.' She left the stage 
for a time to be educated. After playing in 
the country she appeared at Covent Garden 
13 Nov. 1789, as Miss Richards from Margate, ! 
in * The Citizen * of Murphy. The following 
year she joined at Hull the company of Tate 
Wilkinson, playing with great success in 
come<ly. In the line of parts taken by Mrs. 
Jordan, "Wilkinson declares herthe * very best ' 
he has seen, surpassing her predecessor in 
youth and grace. * Her face,' he says, ' is 
more than pretty, it is handsome and strong 
featured, not unlike Bellamy's ; her person is 
rather short, but take her altogether she is a 
nice little woman ' ( Wandenng Patentee^ iii. 
127). She married John Edwin the younger 
[q. v.] in 1791, and she joined with her hus- 
band the mixed company of actors and ama- 
teurs assembled by the Earl of Barrymore at 
Wargrave. She appeared with her husband 
at the Haymarket, 20 June 1792, as Lucy in 

* An Old Man taught Wisdom.' Subsequently 
she passed to the private theatre in Fisnamble 
Street, Dublin, opened by Lord Westmeath 
and Frederick Jones. In October 1794 she 
had rejoined Tate Wilkinson, appearing in 
Doncaster with her husband. W ith him she 
Tisited Cheltenham, and 14 Oct. 1797, still in 
his company, made, as Mrs. Edwin from Dub- 
lin, her first appearance in Bath, playing 
Amanthis and Roxalana. Here, in Bristol, or 
in Southampton, where she became a special 
favourite, she took the leading characters in 
comedy and farce. In 1805, while in Dublin, 
fihe lost her husband. At the recommenda- 
tion of T. Sheridan she was engaged for Drury 
Lane. Before she reached the theatre, how- 
ever, it was burnt down, and on 14 Oct. 1809, 
as Widow Cheerly in * The Soldier s Daugh- 
ter,' she appeared with the Drury Lane com- 
pany at the Lyceum. The chief characters in 
comedy were at once assigned her, and 3 Feb. 
1810 she was the original Lady Traffic in 

* Riches, or the Wife and Brother/ extracted 
by Sir James Bland Burgess from Massin^er's 

* City Madam.' At Drury Lane she remained 
for some years. She was selected to recite, 
8 July 1815, the verses of the manager Arnold 
in commemoration of Waterloo. She then re- 
turned to Dublin, to Crow Street Theatre, and, 
engaged by R. W. EUiston [(j. v.], appeared, 
16 Nov. I8l8, at the Olymipic, speaking an 
opening address by Moncrieit. The following 
year she accompanied her manager to Drury 



Lane. Mrs. Edwin was also seen at the Hay- 
market, the Adelphi, the Surrey, and other 
London theatres, and played at Scarborough, 
Weymouth, Cheltenham, &c. At a compara- 
tively early age she retired firom the stage 
with a competency. This was greatly di- 
minished by the dishonesty of a stockbroker, 
whom she entrusted with money for the pur- 
chase of an annuity, and who absconded to 
America with between eight and nine thou- 
sand pounds. This compelled her to return 
again to the boards. On 13 March 1821 she 
played at Drury Lane the Duenna in Sheri- 
dan's comic opera, this being announced as 
her first appearance in a character of that de- 
scription. With rare candour she owTied her- 
self too old for the part in which she was ac- 
customed to appear. She appeared at Drury 
Lane the following season. For very many 
years she lived in retirement, and, all out for- 
gotten, died at her lodgings in Chelsea 3 Aug. 
1 854. Mrs. Edwin was a pleasing comedian, 
in the line of Mrs. Jordan, who behaved with 
consideration to her, and whose equal she 
never was. In * Histrionic Epistles,' 12mo, 
1807, attributed to John Wilson Croker[q. v.], 
she is the subject of a severe attack. She had 
the reputation of delivering an address or epi- 
logue with especial grace and fervour. She 
was below the middle height, fair, and with 
expressive features. Careful in money matters 
she barely escaped the charge of parsimonious- 
ness. Portraits of her by De Wilde as Eliza in 
« Riches ' and Albina Mandeville in * The Will ' 
are in the Mathews collection at the Garrick 
Club. A painting of her, formerly at Evans's 
supper rooms, is m the possession of Mr. J. 0. 
Parkinson. The reticence concerning her 
christian name uniform among writers on the 
stage is broken by the author of* Leaves from 
a Manager's Note-book * in the * New Monthly 
Magazine,' who speaks of her as Elizabeth 
Rebecca. 

[Gonest*9 Account of the English Stage 
Monthly Mirror, February and March 1810 
Tute Wilkinson's Wandering Patentee, 1705 
Mrs. C. Baron Wilson's Our Actresses, 1846 
Williams's Dnimatic Censor for 1811; Era news- 
paper, 13 Aug. 1854.] J. K. 

EDWIN, Sir HUMPHREY (1642- 
1707), lord mayor of London, descended from 
the ancient family of Edwin of Herefordshire, 
was bom at Hereford in 1642. He was the 
only son of William Edwin, twice mayor of 
Hereford, by his wife, Anne, of the family of 
Mansfield. Of his two sisters, Mary, the 
younger, became the wife of Sir Edward 
Derinp:, who in 1701 wrote a curious book 
bewaUing her death entitled *The most 
excellent Maria, in a brief character of her 



Edwin 



136 



Edwin 



incomparable virtues and goodness.' Edwin 
came to London, and in or before 1670 mar- 
ried Elizabeth, the daughter of Samuel Sam- 
brooke, a wealthy London merchant of the 
ward of Bassisliaw, and sister of Sir Jeremy 
Sambrooke. He began business as a mer- 
chant in Great St. Helen's, and here his four 
eldest children were bom — Samuel, baptised 
12 March 1071; Humphrey, 24 Feb. 1673; 
Thomas, 4 July 1676 ; and Charles, 7 Feb. 
1677 (St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, lleg. of Ba])- 
tisms). He afterwards a])pears to have re- 
moved to the neighbouring parish of St. 
Peter-le-Poor, where his son Samuel was 
living at the time of his marriage in Sep- 
tember 1697 (Chester, Marriatje Licenses^ 
ed. Foster, col. 444). His marriage and suc- 
cess in trade (probably as a wool merchant) 
brought him grreat wealth. In 1678 he was 
admitted a freeman of the Barber-Surgeons' 
Company by redemption, becoming after- 
wards an assistant of the company , and master 
in 1688. In 1694, however, he was dismissed 
from the office of assistant for his continued 
non-attendance at the court meetings. He 
afterwards became a member of the company 
of Skinners. Edwin was a nonconformist, 
and very firm in his opinions. This seems 
to have brought him under the notice of 
James II, who was anxious to conciliate the 
dissenters, in order to obtain their help in 
relaxing the penal laws against the Koman 
catholics. On 1 1 Oct. 1 687 he was sworn in 
as alderman of Tower ward, on the direct 
appointment of the king, in the place of Sir 
John Chapman, discharged by the royal 
mandate. On the \bX\\ of the following 
month the king knighted him at Whitehall, 
and a few weeks later appointed him sheriflf 
of Glamorganshire for the ensuing year {Ltm- 
don (iazottpy \o. 2808). It was ])robably be- 
fore this that he purchased the considenible 
estate and mansion of Llanmihangel Plas in 
Glamorganshire, from Sir Robert Thomas, 
bart., tlie last of a long line of manorial lords 
of that name (Nicholas, Hist, of Glamor- 
gariAhirOy 1874, p. 125). 

In August 1688 Edwin was chosen sheriff 
of London and Middlesex, entering upon his 
duties on 11 Oct. following. The year was 
an eventful one. In December Edwin, with 
his colleague and the aldermen of London, 
attended the Prince of Orange on his entry 
into London, and took part in February in 
the proclamation of the king and queen in 
Cheapside and at the Koyal Exchange. On 
25 Oct. Edwin was elected alderman of the 
ward of Cheap, in succession to William 
KifTen, the baptist minister [q. v.], who suf- 
fered notorious persecution from James II, 
but he again removed, 22 Oct. 1689, to 



Tower ward, which he continued to represent 
until his death. He and six others were ap- 
pointed by the king, in April 1689, commis- 
sioners of excise, but in the following Sep- 
tember all were dismissed excepting Edwm 
and Sir Henry Ashurst, and otner wealthy 
citizens were appointed in their room. Edwin 
continued to hold the office, to which a salary 
of 1,000/. was attached, until April 1691. 
Edwin took a jjrominent part in the military 
affairs of the city. Besides being an officer 
of the Artillery Company, he became captain 
of the regiment of horse volunteers, a corps 
of four hundred citizens, established in July 
1689 and maintained at their own ex|)ense, 
with the king as their colonel and the Earl 
of Monmouth as lieutenant-colonel. I le was 
also colonel of a regiment of the trained 
bands; but in March 1690, on the church- 
men becoming a majority in the court of 
lieutenancy, Edwin and five other aldermen 
who held nonconformist opinions, were turned 
out, and five others belonging to the church 
party chosen in their places. In the follow- 
ing year Edwin was the victim of a malicious 
prosecution conducted by Sir Bartholomew 
Shower, afterwards recorder of London. He 
was indicted for penury, and a true bill 
found against him in November 1691 by the 
grand jury of Ossulston hundred in Middle- 
sex ; but upon his trial in the following 
Febniary he was acquitted. In a contem- 
porarj' pamphlet the prosecution is described 
as * so unjust that the L. C. J. Holt, seeing it 
proceeded from the depth of malice, would 
not sufler Sir Humphry to swear all his wit- 
nesses,t here being no need of any further proofs 
at his trial ' (A Letter to an honest citizen 
cone, the election of a Iie&)rder for the City of 
Undon, by T. S., 1692, GuildhaU Library, 
Tracts, vol. cciii. No. 24). From two treasury 
minutes dated 5 July 1694 and 20 Oct. 1696, 
I'Mwin appears to have owned extensive pro- 
perty in Westminster, adjoining Westminster 
llali and the clock house {CaL of Treas, 
Papers, 1557-1696, pp. 377, 564). He also 
had a town house at Kensington (Hattox, 
New View of Ixyndon, i. 33), and added to his 
Glamorganshire property by the possession of 
the castle and lordship of Ogmore, the lease 
of which was renewed to him in 1702 {^2sotes 
and. Queries, 6th ser. xi. 486). In September 
1697 Samuel, the eldest son of Sir Humphrey, 
was married to I^ady Catherine Montague, 
daughter of the Earl of Manchester, ana on 
the 30th of the same month Edwin was 
elected lord mayor, the customary mayoralty 
pageant being omitted, owing doubtless to 
iiis religious principles (Faibholt, Lord 
Mayors' Pageants, Percy Soc. vol. x, pt. ii. 
pp. 283-4). Shortly after his accession to 



Edwin 



137 



Edwin 



office (6 Nov. 1697) WiUiam III, who re- 
turned home after the treaty of Ryswick, 
made a magnificent public entry into London. 
The reception was the grandest spectacle 
witnessed in the city since the Restoration. 

Soon after his election Edwin gave great 
offence by attending a nonconformist wor- 
ship on the afternoons of Sunday, 31 Oct. 
and 7 Nov., in full civic state. A meet- 
ing of the court of aldermen was held on 
Tuesday, 9 Nov., to consider a complaint 
of tlie sword-bearer against the lord mayor 
for compelling his attendance on the occasion, 
when the lord mayor was deserted by all his 
officers except the sword-bearer, who was 
locked in a pew (LrxTRELL, iv. 303). Ac- 
cording to the official minute, the court took 
notice that the lord mayor had *for two 
Lords dayes past in the aftemoones gone to 
private meetmgs with the Sword.' II is lord- 
ship promised to forbear the practice for the 
future, and it was ordered 'that the like 
practice shall not be used for the time to 
come' {City Becords, Rep. 102, fol. 11). A 
letter written 11 Nov. states that the meet^ 
ing-house attended by the lord mayor was 
!More*8. Wilson and" others state that it 
was Pinners* Hall ; a contemporary skit, * A 
Dialogue between Jack and Will,* describes 
it as Salters* Hall. Burnet says that the 
bill for preventing occasional conformity had 
its origin in Edwin's state visit to Pinners* 
Hall {Hist. V. 49). 

Edwin's unwise action roused all the bit- 
terness of the high church party and caused 
an angr\' literary controversy. Dr. Nicholls 
led the attack in his * Apparat. ad Def. Eccles. 
Anpl.,* and was answered by James Peirce 
( Vindication of the Dissent ers^ pt. i. p. 276) 
andbyCalamy(^6ri6?^w«if,i.661). A young 
clergyman named Edward Oliver, preaching 
before p]dwin in St. Paul's Cathedral towards 
the close of his mayoralty (22 Oct. 1698), had 
the bad taste to declaim against the noncon- 
formist mode of worship. The sermon soon 
appeared in print and was answered by a 
pamphlet, of which two editions were pub- 
lished, entitled * A Rowland for an Oliver, or 
a Sharp Rebuke for a Saucy Levite. . . . By 
a Lover of Unity.' Edwin had also to face 
the ridicule of the stage and the lampoons 
of the wits of the day. The two following 
brochures are preserved in the Guildhall 
Library: * A Dialogue betwixt Jack and Will 
concerning the I-iord Mayor's goin^ to Meet- 
ing-houses, with the Sword carried before 
him,' London, 1697, 4to, and 'The Puritanical 
Justice, or the Beggars tum'd Thieves,* Lon- 
don, 1698, 4to. 

Penkethman, in his comedy of * Love with- 
out Interest/ 1699, has the following allu- 



sion : * If youll compound for a catch, I'll 
sing you one of my Lord Mayor's going to 
Pin-makers Hall to hear a sniveling non-con- 
separatist divine divide and subdivide into 
the two and thirty points of the compass.' 
Swift, in his * Tale of a Tub,' by way of sati- 
rising the toleration of dissenters, states that 
Jack s tatters are coming into fashion both 
in court and city, and describes Edwin imder 
the name of Jack getting upon a great horse 
and eating custard. A satiric print illus- 
trating the text is given in the fifth edition 
of the * Tale of a Tub ' (sect. xi. p. 233) ; this 
is somewhat altered in later editions; the 
scene is Ludgate Hill, showing the gate, with 
St. Paul's in the background. De Foe wrote 
a pamphlet bearing the title ' An Enquiry 
into the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters 
in Cases of Preferment ; with a Preface to 
the Lord Mayor, occasioned by his carrying 
the Sword to a Conventicle,' London, lo97. 

The remainder of Edwin's mayoralty passed 
off without event and apparently with credit 
1 himself. Many corporat e offices fell vacant 
during the year, by which he received the 
large sum of 4,000/. Towards the end of 
May he temporarily retired through illness, 
with the king's leave, to his house at Ken- 
sington, Sir Robert Clayton filling his place 
in his absence (Luttrell, iv. 386^. 

Edwin died on 14 Dec. 1707 at liis seat in 
Llanmihan^el, where a monument to his me- 
mory remains in the parish church. His 
widow died in London on 22 Nov. 1714, and 
was subsequently buried beside him at Llan- 
mihangel. He left no will, but administra- 
tion was granted to his son Charles on 19 Feb. 
1707-8. Towards the erection of the Lon- 
don workhouse, which was begun in his 
mayoralty, he pave 100/. and a pack of wool. 
Besides the children already mentioned Ed- 
win had four daughters and a fifth son, John, 
from whom is descended the present Earl of 
Crawford and Balcarres. 

[Memoir of the familv of Edwin, by J. Edwin- 
Cole, in Nichols's Herald and Genealogist, vi. 64- 
62; Wilson's Life of De Foe. i. 270-4; Dun- 
cumb's Herefordshire ; Luttrell's Relation ; Ex- 
tracts from the Barber-Surgwns' Company's Re- 
cords, furnished by Mr. Sydney Young; Notes 
and Queries, 2nd ser. iv. 389 ; Chotliam Society's 
publications, xxi. 248.] C. W-u. 

EDWIN, JOHN, the elder (1749-1790), 
comedian, bom 10 Aug. 1749 in Clare Street, 
St. Clement Danes, was the only son of John 
Edwin, a watchmaker, by Hannah, daughter 
of Henry Brogden, a statuary in York. He 
had two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. He 
was sent at nine years of age to a farmhouse 
near Enfield, and obtained a moderate edu- 
cation, including a good knowledge of music 



Edwin 



138 



Edwin 



Before, at the age of fifteen, he left school to fill 
a post at the pension office of the exchec^uer, 
he had acted with some amateur associates 
in a stable. He joined in 1764 a * spouting 
club ' meeting at the French Horn tavern in 
Wood Street, Cheapside, and made the ac- 
quaintance of Wilbam "Woodfall, whose re- 
presentation of Old Mask in Colman's ' Mu- 
sical Lady ' induced him to become an actor. 
His first essay was made at an amateur per- 
formance at the Falcon tavern in Fetter 
Lane. He became known to Shuter, who 
predicted his future success, and to Lee of 
Drury Lane Theatre, who engaged him at 
a salary^ of a guinea a week for a summer 
season in Manchester. Before leaving Lon- 
don Edwin played at the Haymarket at a 
benefit performance Quidnunc in Muq)hy's 
farce * The Upholsterer.' A distant relative 
named John Edwin of George Street, Han- 
over Square, died, leaving to charities a for- 
tune ot near 60,000/. 'Mr. Way, a sub-go- 
vernor of the South Sea House, and one of 
twelve executors to the will, appointed Edwin 
secretary to the trust, with a salary of 30/. 
This post Edwin held a year. Way appears 
also to have given him 500/. for the purpose 
of his entry as accountant into tlie South 
Sea House. In 1765, on starting for Man- 
chester, Edwin made over this sum to his 
father. In Manchester he played characters 
belonging to Shuter, whom he was accus- 
tomed to mimic. In the autumn Edwin 
went to Dublin, appearing for the first time 
at the Smock Alley Theatre as Sir Philip 
Modelove in Mrs. Centlivre's * A Bold Stroke 
for a Wife.' His other parts included Lord 
Trinket in the * Jealous Wife.' When as 
Lord Trinket he had to speak the words, ' I 
cut a mijjhty ridiculous figure here/ a reply 
was received from the audience, * You do in- 
deed.' Things theatrical in Dublin were at 
the lowest ebb. Edwin's salary was rarely 

J>aid in full, and after a vagabond life in Ire- 
and he ran away from his engagement and 
returned to England. After various adven- 
tures in country towns he appeared at the 
Bath theatre on 7 Oct. 1708 as Periwinkle 
in Mrs. Centlivre's ' Bold Stroke for a Wife.' 
Here he formed a connection with Mrs. 
W^almsley, a milliner in Horse Street, the 
subsequent abandonment of which, after 
twenty years' continuance, caused him to l)e 
occasionally hissed from the stage. To this 
connection was due the birth of his son, Jolm 
Edwin [q. v.] The connection with the Bath 
theatre, at which he became a favourite, was 
maintained during many years. Among the 
characters in which he was seen were Bog- 
berry, First Gravedigger, Launcelot Gobbo, 
Sir Hugh Evans, Maw worm in * The Hjix)- 



crite/ and Sir Anthony Absolute. His first 
appearance at the Haymarket took place on 
19 June 1776 as Flaw in Footers comedy 

* The Cozeners.' His first reception was but 
j moderately favourable, and though as Billy 
' Button in Foote's * Maid of Bath ' he esta- 
i blished his reputation, Foote gave him com- 
paratively few opportunities. Edwin did not 
appear in London until his great model, 
Shuter, had disappeared from the stage. 
George Colman, on whom the management 
of the Haymarket devolved in 1777, julowed 
Edwin to play characters such as Hardcastle 
in ' She stoops to conquer,' Launcelot Gobbo, 

i Justice W^oodcock, and he ' created ' the part 
; of Lazarillo (Figaro) in the * Spanish Bar- 
ber.' From this period Edwin was a main- 
stay of the Haymarket, which was only 
allowed to be open during the summer. In 
the seasons of 1776-7, 1777-8, and 1778-9 
he reappeared in Bath. On 24 Sept. 1779, 
as Touchstone in * As you like it, and as 
Midas in the piece of that name, he made his 
first appearance at Co vent Garden. His suc- 
cess at Bath as Punch in * Pleasures of the 
Town,' a piece extracted from Fielding's * Au- 
thor's Farce,' was the cause of his engage- 
ment at Covent Garden, where, in *Tho 
Mirror, or Harlequin Everywhere,' assigned 
to Dibdin, he * created * the same character 
(Punch). Still appearing during the summer 
season at the Haymarket, Edwin played at 
Covent Garden from this date until his death 
in 1790. The list of his characters at one or 
other of these houses is inexhaustible. He 

* created ' very many parts in pieces now all 
but forgotten of Miles Peter Andrews, Mrs. 
Cowley, Pilon, Holcroft, &c., and played Clo- 
ten. Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Speed in * Two 
Gentlemen of Verona,' Dromio of Syracuse, 
Ben in *Love for Love,' and man v other cha- 
meters in works of established reputation. 
His association with O'Keeffe was eminently 
beneficial to both actor and dramatist. In a 
supplement to his * Recollections ' O'Keeffe 
supplies, in some doggerel verses, a list of t wo- 
and-twentv characters in pieces of his own 
in which tdwin had appeared. The comic 
songs, in t he delivery of which Edwin obtained 
perhaps his highest popularitv, and which 
were reprinted with the name of Edwin, were 
mostly written by O'Keeflb. In his * Recollec- 
tions ' O'Keeffe bears frequent testimony to the 
merits of Edwin. A joke current at the time 

; was that 'when Edwin died O'Kceflfe would 
be damned.' ICd win's last appearance was at 
the Haymarket on 6 Aug. 1/90 as Gregory 
Gubbins in the * Battle of Hexham.' He 
died on 31 Oct. in the same year, and was 
buried on Sunday, 7 Nov., at 8 P.M., on the 

j north side of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, be- 



Edwin 



139 



Edwin 



tween Dr. Ame and Edwin's great prototype 
Shuter. The pall-bearers were O'Keefle, 
Shield the musician, Quick, 'Gentleman' 
Lewis, llolman, Wilson, Hull, and John- 
stone. Edwin left a widow. Miss Mary 
Ilubbard, whom he married on 13 June 1790 
at St. John's Church, Westminster, and who, 
according to Reed's manuscript * Notitia I)ra- 
matica,' died 8 Jan. 1794. Colman classes 
Edwin as the best burletta singer that ever 
had been, or perhaps will be, and adds that 
* Nature in gifting him with the viscoinica had 
dealt towawls him differently from low come- 
dians in general, for she had enabled him to 
look irresistibly funny, with a very agreeable, 
if not handsome, set of features, and while 
he sung in a style which produced roars of 
laughter, there was a melody in some of the 
upper tones of his voice that was Ijcautiful ' 
(Peake, Memoirs of the Colman Family ^ ii. 
10-11). Reynolds, the dramatist, savs that 
Edwin, disdaining buffoonery, * estal)lished 
a sort of ent re-nous-ship . . . with the audi- 
ence, and made them his confidants ' (Zi/<? 
ajid Times ^ 1826, ii. 61), and did it so neatly 
as * frequently to enrich the business of the 
stage.' He says that he was present at a 
performance ol the * Son-in-Law,' when in 
the scene in which Cranky, objecting to Bow- 
kit t as a son-in-law, observes, * Besides, you 
are such an ugly fellow ! ' Edwin thereupon, 
as Bowkitt, came to the front of the stage, and 
pointing to Reynolds, said, * Now I submit to 
the decision of an enlightened British public 
which is the ugliest fellow of the three — I, 
old Cranky, or that gentleman in the front row 
of the balcony box.' John Bernard (1756- 
1828) [q. v.], who claims to have supplied 
Anthony Pasquin with materials for his bio- 
graphy of Edwin, speaks repeatedly of Edwin, 
calling him the * greatest genius ' he * ever en- 
countered* {lietrospections, i. 180) and * the 
most original actor ... in the old world or 
the new" {ifj. ii. 249). He says also that he 
wanted variety. Boaden, * Life of Mrs. Sid- 
dons,* i. 117, also compares Edwin to Liston, 
and says that neither was fully enjoyed except 
in a small theatre. In his private life Edwin 
was a boon companion and a wag and the 
hero of many questionable adventures. In 
his * Life of Bannister,* i. 247, Boaden says 
that he drank, and was * the absolute victim of 
sottish intemperance.' Edwin used to reach 
the theatre drunk at the bottom of a chaise. 
The clothes were thrust upon him and ho 
was pushed on to the stage when he was able 
to collect himsc^lf, and ' his acting seemed 
only the richer for the bestial indul^nce that 
ha(f overwhelmed him.' His merits, which 
were high, fail to justify the svstcm of gag- 
ging to which ho resorted. Under his name 



were published: 1. *The Last Legacy of 
John Edwin,' 1780, with portrait. 2. * Ed- 
win's Jests,' 12mo (no date). 3. * Edwin'a 
Pills to Purge Melancholy,' 2nd edition, with 
additions, 1788, 8vo. 4. * Eccentricities ar- 
ranged and digested by John Williams, alias 
Anthony Pasquin,' 1798, 2 vols. 8vo. This 
work has at least three different title-pages. 
In these volumes nothing seems to be nis. 
The * Eccentricities ' contains the particulars 
of his life, told with insolent amplitude and 
comment by Williams. From this book sub- 
sequent biographers have taken all that is 
preserved. The Mathews collection of por- 
traits in the Garrick Club contains pictures of 
Edwin as Peeping Tom and as Justice Wood- 
cock, by Beach, one by Gainsborough (?), 
an early work, and one by Edridge. 

[Gcncst's Account of the English Stage. In 
addition to the Eccentricities of Edwin by Wil- 
liams, of which the first volumo is partly occupied 

I by his life and tbo second by tho adventures, 
jests, and sayings fastened upon him, the thea- 

I trical biogniphers of Boaden, of Kemble, Mrs. 
Jnchbald, Mrs. Jordan, and Bannister supply 

: most particulars. The Onicle, a periodical issued 
by Boaden about 1790, has been seen by Genest. 

j Not being in the British Museum it is now in- 

! accessible.] J. K. 

! EDWIN, JOHN, the younger (1768- 
' 180o\ actor, son of John Edwin [q. v.l is first 
hearaofin 1777, when his father, applying to 
George Colman for an advance of salary, oners 
to throw in Mrs. Edwin and Jack. The fol- 
lowing year, 30 July 1778, young Edwin ap- 
peared at the Ilavmarket as llengo in a re- 
vival of * Bonduca ^ by Beaumont and Fletcher, 
i From this period, at the Ilaymarket or at 
Bath, he frequently played with his father, 
his first recorded appearance in a manly part 
being at Covent Garden, 20 March 1788, as 
Dick in * The Apprentice ' of Murphy for his 
father's benefit. Taken up by Lord Barry- 
more, who made an inseparable companion 
of him, he directed during some years the 
amateur theatricals at Wargrave, Berkshire, 
the seat of that nobleman. After his marria^ 
to Miss Richards in 1791 he took Mrs. Edwin 

i(j. v.] to Wargrave, where she overstayed the 
imits allowed her by her manager, Tate Wil- 
kinson, of the York circuit, with whom in 
consequence she quarrelled. With his wife 
Edwin went to Uie Ilavmarket, appearing 
20 June 1792 in *The ^Virgin Unmasked,' 
previously known as * An Old Man taught 
Wisdom,'^a ballad farce of Fielding, in which 
he played Blister to the Lucy of Mrs. Edwin. 
He accompanied his wife to Dublin and to 
Doncast^r in 1794, and on most of her coun- 
try tours, and died in Dublin, 22 Feb. 180)5, 
a victim to degrading dissipation. Edwin 



Edwy 



140 



Edwy 



was best known at Bath, where he was held 
in some parts e(}ual or superior to his father. 
He was an excellent country actor, and would 
probably, but for his irregular life, have made 
a high reputat ion. Tate Wilkinson praises his 
Lenitive in * The Prize * and his Nipperkin in 
* The Sprigs of Laurel,* and says that as Mr. 
Tag in * The Spoiled Child * he is better than 
any comedian he (Wilkinson) has hitherto 
seen. He adds that * Mr. Edwin dresses his 
characters better and more characteristic than 
any comic actor I recollect on the York stage ' 
( Wandering PatenteCy iv. 204). A tombstone 
to his memory, erected by his wife in St. 
Werburgh*s churchyard, Dublin, attributes 
his death to the acuteness of his sensibility. 
In a satirical poem, attributed to John Wilson 
Croker [q. v.|, had appeared some stinging 
lines upon Edwin, the * lubbard spouse ' of 
Mrs. Edwin, and the degenerate son of a man 
' hiffh on the rolls of comic fame.' Upon 
reading these Edwin, it is said, wrote to a 
friend: *Come and help me to destroy myself 
with some of the most splendid cogniac [mc] 
that I have ever exported to cheer a breaking 
lieart.* From the debauch then begun Edwin 
did not recover, and he died uttering fearful 
imprecations upon his then unknown satirist. 

[Gcnest's Account of the English Stage ; 
Monthly Mirror, February and March 1810 ; Mrs. 
C. Baron Wilson's Oar Actresses, 1844 ; Tate 
"Wilkinson's Wandering Patentee; Thespian Diet. 
1805.] J. K. 

EDWY or EADWIG {d. 950), king of 
the English, the eldest son of Eadmund and 
St. yElfgifu, could scarcely have been more 
than fifteen when he succeeded to the throne 
on the death of his uncle Eadred [q. v. 



fq. v.l 
[1, and 



in 955. He was remarkablv beautiful, an( 
was called the * Handsome' (Pancali) by his 
people (^Etiielweakd, 520). His accession 
was followed by the downfall of the party 
that had been in power during the last reign, 
and Eadgifu, his grandmother, was despoiled 
of all her possessions. At his coronation, 
which took place at Kingston in January 
956, he left the banquet for the society of two 
ladies, -Ethelgifu, who was, it has been sug- 
gested, his foster mother (IIobektson), and 
her daughter yKlfgifu [q. v.], whom ^Ethel- 
gifu wished him to marry. This marriage 
would have been uncanonical, and Dunstan 
and Bishop CJynesige forced him to return to 
the hall [see under Duxstan and -'Elfgifu]. 
At the instigation of /Ethelgifu he drove 
Dunstan into exile, and either in 95G or 957 
married yElfgifu (Chron. de Abinqdony i. 218 ; 
Kemble, Code,v DipL 1201). the govern- 
ment was carried on foolishly, and the people 
of the northern part of the kingdom con- 
sidered that they were treated unjustly. The 



power had passed into the hands of the 
nobles of Wessex, and it is therefore likely 
that the Mercians and Northumbrians ha(l 
cause to complain. In 957 they made an 
insurrection. Archbishop Oda, who disap- 
proved of the marriage with -.^Ifgifu, and 
Eadgar, the king*8 younger brother, withdrew 
from the court, and Eaagar was chosen king 
by the northern people. Eadwig appears to 
have advanced to meet the insurgents, and 
to have retreated before them at Gloucester, 
where, according to a late story, -.-Ethelgifu 
or iElfgifu was taken and put to death (Os- 
BERN, Eadmeb, Vita Odonts). A meeting of 
the * witan' w^as held, in which the kingdom 
was divided between the brothers, and Ead- 
wig was left only with the portion to the 
south of the Thames. In 958 Oda separated 
Eadwig and /Elfgifu, * because they were too 
near akin* {A,'S, Chron.)y and the archbishop 
returned to Eadwig*s court (Kemble, Code.r 
Dipl. 472). The West-Saxon nobles, and 
especially the members of the royal house, re- 
mained faithful to him. In the first year of 
his reij^, possibly at his coronation (Stubbs), 
Eadwig had made grants to the monasteries 
of Wilton, Abingdon, and Worcester (Kem- 
ble, Codex Dipl. 436, 441, 451 ), and we may 
safely reject the story of Osbern that he en- 
gaged in a general persecution of the monks. 
Indeied, the revolt against him had nothing 
to do with the dispute between the seculars 
and regulars, which did not begin until the 
next reign. Nevertheless it seems probable 
that the party in power disliked and put a 
stop to the earlier reform of the monastic 
houses, which had been carried out bv Dun- 
Stan with signal success at Glastonbury', and 
the king's personal quarrel with Dunstan 
must naturally have inclined him to look 
with disfavour on his work. Glastonbury 
was certainly seized, and the condition of 
Winchester when yEthelwold became bishop 
there seems to show that any reforms t hat had 
been carried out bv ^Elfheah were undone 
by his successor (Stubbs). There is also 
some reason to believe that ^'Elfsine and 
Brithelm, who were in turn appointed to the 
see of Canterbury by Eadwig, belonged to 
the West-Saxon ancl anti-Dunstanite party 
as regards both ecclesiastical and civil matters. 
Eadwig died on 1 Oct. 959, and was buried 
at Winchester. He left no children. He 
was probably beloved by the lower class in 
the south, foV Henry of Huntingdon, whose 
chronicle often preserves popular traditions 
and sympathies, speaks well of him and la- 
ments his early death. Dunstan is said to 
have had a vision in which he saw the king's 
soul carried off by devils, and to have deli- 
vered him by his prayers. 



Eedes i 

[Aogl'vSmon Cbmn. ; Florence of Worcesler ; 
^Chtlwenrd, Man. Hist, llrit. : Ilrary of Huu- 
tingdoD (RolU Ser.) : MemociaU of DaB»lita 
(Rolls Scr.). Btn latrod. liuniUicrll ; ViU 
Odonu>.AagliiiSacni,ii.; Willinmnf Mnlmeabury, 
GestA Becum, c. 14T, Gestn Ponlificum, p. 1*7 
(Rolls Sir): Kemblc's Codex Dipl vol ii.; lio- 
IsrlBon'a Uiatnrical t'Jsaja.l68.IH0.1C>3; Hook's 
Arelibiiihops pf Cantorlmry, i. 375 i"!- ; Allen's 
Jtajnl VrtTooilWe, HOi Uallani's Middle A[^(», 
ii.2ei.] W. H. 



Egan 



., JOIIX n609?-1667Pl, divine, 
son of Nicholns Eedcs, bom at Salisbury, 
WiUshire, vraa entered at Oriel Colleffe, Ox- 
ford, ill ID:;!!, and proceeded B.A. 3 June 
1630. He afterwanls ' became a minister in 
the isle nf Sliepie, whence beinjf ejected in 
the time of the rebullinn suffer'd much by 
imprisnnment in Ely House, nnd other mise- 
ries ' (Wood, Alhenar 0.ivii. eil. Bliss, iii. 
«>2>. On his relea-ie he took the ciirocv nf 
Broad C'hnik, Wiltshire, which he helil ' with 
much ado' for about two years, and was then 
made vicnr of Hale, Tiampahirc. After the 
Hestoration he continued at Hale, where he 
was murdered in his house by thieves in or 
about 16(17, and was buried in the church, 
lie jiublishcd ' The Orthodox Doctrine con- 
ceminf; Justification by Faith asserted and 
Tindicated,wherein theBookof Mr. William 
Kvre ... is examined ; and also the Doctrine 
oi Mr. Baxter . . . discussed,' 4tn, London, 
16.'i4. Ill dixlicatinsf it to his friend, Edward 
Dodinirton, Kudes slates that he had written 
another and more elaborate treatise onjusti* 
ficetion, bt-siiles 'other things, both practical 
and pol>>miral, which I have in r^inesso 
for the pn-sw.' 

[Wood's Fasti Own. (Bliss), i. *S3.] G. 0. 

EEDES, IIICIIARD (l.MJC-iaOl), dean 
of Worcester. [See Kdes.] 



shirp, ' befamH either clerk or chorister' of 
CoqiuH Christ! ColleRc, OxfonI, in 1828, gra- 
duot«l B.A. in February 1620, and t<mk the 
cunu>y of Bishop's CleeTc, Gloucestershire, 
at ^licluiclmns l6-'I2. IIo proceeded !tI.A. 
17 March 10-1(. IIo continued at Bishop's 
Cleeve ' in pmd esteem for his conformity ' 
until the <'ivil war broke out, when he sub- 
scriU-^l to tlie covenant. About 1&17 he be- 
came vii'nr of Beckford, near Bishop's Cleeve, 
wh(>n> he remained until 1658. Jty Ihe per- 
siuixion of ' a parliament captain,' who had a 
farm in Bishop's C'lecve, he then returned to 
his old cuTu there in the hope of eucceedinj; 
to the rectory. From his published sermons 
it ia plainly evident that he hod tired of pres- 



byterianism and lon^d for the king's return. 
Immediately after the Iteeloratioa he de- 
livered an ultca-loyal harangue on the text, 
' As whatsoever the king did pleased all the 
people' (2 Sam. iii. 36), before the mayor and 
aldermen of Gloucester, hut all his attempts 
to conciliate the court party proved unavail- 
ing. He remained at Bishop s Cleeve as mi- 
nister until the' Bartholomew Act of 1602, 
when ' he silenced himself,' but continued t{> 
attend tiie senices of the church ' as much 
OS his age would give him leave.' Some few 
jears before his death he removcl to Oretton, 
in the parish of Winchcomb, Olouceatershire, 
where lie died in the beginning of April 1686, 
and was buried on the 6th in the middle of 
tlic north aide of Bishop's Cleeve Church in 
the presence of ' a vast crowd of those who 
knew and loved him.' 

Eedea wos Ihe author of: 1. ' Great Sal- 
vation by Jesus Christ,' a sermon (on Heb, 
ii. 3), 8vo. London, ItSoO. 2. ' Christ exalted 
end Wisdom justified; or, the Saints' Esteem 
of Jesus Christ, as most precious, handled ; 
and their wise Choice and Subjection to llim 
as their Lord and Saviour vindicated,' 8vo, 
London, 16oi), 'commended to the world,' 
says Wood, ' by the epistle of Mr. Rich. Bax- 
ter.' 'i, ' Great Britain's Resurrection ; or, 
England's Complacencie in her Royal Sove- 
raign King Charles the Second. A sermon 
[on 2 Sam. iii. 36] preached in the Lecture 
at Gloucester, 5 June 1660,' 4to, Loudon, 
1660. 4. Sermon (on 1 Pet. ii. 7). 

[Wftod'ti Athenw Oi-in. (Illi«s), W. 187-8; 
Woud's Fiuti OioD. (UliM), i. 4JS1, 474.] 

G. a. 

EFFINaHAM,EAaLSOF.[SeeIIowAitD.] 
EGAN, JA.MES (1799-1842), mewotint 
engraver, of humble origin, was bom in Iha 
county of Roscommon in Ireland in 1799. 
He was employed by S. W. Reynolds {i\. v.], 
the well-known mewotint engraver, at first 
as little more than an errand-boy, but later 
in laving his mewotint grounds ; it was thus 
that Egnn first learnt his art. Gaining much 
exiierience in this, he set up a business of 
ground-laving for engravers, while he studied 
assiduouslv in order to become an engraver 
himself. Having neither money, friends, nor 
previous education as en artist, he was com- 
pelled to rely solely on his own industry and 
ability, and suffered many privations. Un- 
, fortunately, just as he was about to gain some- 
I substantial reward for his ef|l>rts, consump- 
tive symptoms began to manifest themselves, 
and after eight years' struggle with declining 
I health Egan died at Pentonville,2 Oet,1842, 
I aged 43. His best plate, and his last, ex»* 
^ ciitud under the most trying c' 



Egan 



142 



Egan 



-was * English Hospitality in the Olden Time/ 
after G. Cattermole. Among his other en- 
^avings were * Love's Reverie/ after J. R. 
Herbert, R.A., ' Abl>ot Boniface/ after C. S. 
Newton, R. A. , * The Morning after the Wreck/ 
after C. Bentley, * The Study/ after E. Stone, 
* The Mourner/ after J. M. Moore, * The Young 
Wife/ * The Citation of Wycliffe/ * The Tri- 
bunal of the Inquisition/ and other pictures 
after S. J. E. Jones, and a portrait of John 
Lodge, librarian at Cambridge, after Wal- 
misley. Egan, who married young, left a 
family, for whom a subscription was raised 
by his friends. 

[Redgrave's Diet, of Artists; Ottloy's Diet, of 
Recent and Living Artists; Andresen's Hand- 
buch fiir Kupferstichsammlor ; Art Union, 1842, 
p. 256.] L. C. 

EGAN, JOHN (1750?-1810\ chairman 
of Kilmainhani, co. Dublin, was bom about 
1750 at Charleville, co. Cork, where his father 
was a beneficed clergyman, and having en- 
tered Trinitv College, Dublin, as a sizar, he 
graduated tliere B.A. 1773, and LL.B. 1776 ; 
the dcgrt>e of LL.D. was conferred upon him, 
honoris causa ^ in 1790. He was called to 
the Irish bar in 1778, and, chieflv through 
the friendship of Lord Avonmore, cliief baron 
of the exchequer, he made good way in his 
profession. In due course ho received his 
silk gown ; in 1 787 he was elected a bencher 
of the Hon. Society of King's Inns, Dublin ; 
and for several years before his death he 
hold the judicial oflice of chairman of Kil- 
mainham. For a considerable time he had 
been in the receipt of a very large share of 
business as a practising barrister, but his 
quarrel with Henry (Jrattan was profes- 
sionally most injurious to him. In the Irish 
House of Commons he for some years repre- 
sented the borough of Tallagh, co. Watt;r- 
ford, and his boldness as a member, espe- 
cially on the question of the legislative union 
of Great Britain and Ireland, is well known 
to the student of Irish history. He died in 
1810. 

[Todd's Cat. of DuMin Graduates; Dublin 
Almanaes and Direetories ; Phillips's Curran and 
his Contemporaries.] B. II. B. j 

EGAN, PIERCE, the elder (1772-1849), ' 
author of * Life in London,' is believed to , 
have been bom in London in 1772. From an 
€!arly time he dwelt in the suburbs, and con- 
tinuod to reside there until his death, making 
frequent expeditions to every part of England 
where notable races, prize fights, matches, or 
amusements were expected to take place. By 
1812 his reputation was established as ' re- 
porter of sporting events' in the newspapers, 



and his impromptu epigrams, songs, and wit- 
ticisms enjoyed a wide circulation. In that 
year, having secured a permanent engagement, 
which he held until the end of 1823, as the 
accredited purveyor of sporting news on a 
journal printed by E. Young, he married and 
settled, and his son. Pierce Egan the younger 
[q. v.], was bom in 1814. In the same year 
he wrot« and set in type and worked off with 
his own hands a book (pp. 144) concerning 
the Prince llegent and Miss Robinson, entitled 

* The ^listress of Royalty ; or the Loves of Flori- 
zel and Perdi ta,printed by and for Pierce Egan,* 
1814. His declaration of authorship, signed 
and dated 25 Jan. 1843, is extant. In 1818 
he wrote and published a serial work, monthly, 
called * Boxiana ; or Sketches of Modem Pu- 
gilism,* giving memoirs and portraits of all 
the most celebrated pugilists, contemporary 
and antecedent, with full reports of their 
respective prize fights, victories, and defeats, 
told with so much spirited humour, yet with 
such close attention to accuracv, that the 
work holds a unique position. It was con- 
tinued in several volumes, with copperplates, 
to 1824. At this date, having seen that Lon- 
doners read with avidity his accounts of 
country sports and pastimes, he conceived 
the idea of a similar description of the amuse- 
ments pursued by sporting men in town. 
Accordingly he announced the publication of 

* Life in London ' in shillingnumbers, monthly, 
and secured the aid of George Cruikshank 
[q. v.] and his brother, Isaac Robert Cruik- 
shank [q. v.], to draw and engrave the illus- 
trations in aquatint, to be coloured by hand, 
(leorge IV had caused Egan to be presented at 
court, and at once accepted the dedication of 
the forthcoming work. This was the more 
generous on the king's part because ho 
must have known himself to have been often 
satirised and caricatured mercilessly in the 

* Green Bag' literature by G. Cruikshank, 
the intended illustrator. On 15 July 1821 
appeared the first number of * Life in Lon- 
don ; or. The Day and Night Scenes of Jerry 
Hawthorn, Esq., and his elegant friend, Co- 
rinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, 
the Oxonian, in their Rambles and Sprees 
through the Metropolis.' The success was 
instantaneous and unprecedented. * It took 
both town and country by storm.' So great 
was the demand for copies, increasing with 
the publication of each successive number, 
month bv month, that the colourist^ could 
not keep pace with the printers. The alter- 
nate scenes of high life and low life, the 
contraste<l characters, and revelations of 
misery side by side with prodigal waste and 
folly, attracted attention, while the vivacity 
of dialogue and description never flagged. 



Egan 



M3 



Egan 



Many years afterwards (in the 'Comhill Ma- 
gazine/ October 1860, No. viii. De Juventut« 
in his * Roundabout Papers ') W. M. Thacke- 
ray described the impression left on him by 
his early perusal of the book, together witn 
a much later reperusal and partial disen- 
chantment, but did full justice to the clever 
illustrations which so largely contributed to 
the success of the work (see his paper on 
Gruikshank in the Westminster Review ^ 
1840). Imitations and pirated copies ap- 
peared, both of the t«xt and pictures. Tne 
chief of the former were * Real Life in Lon- 
don; or, The Rambles and Adventures of 
Bob Tnllyho, Esq., and his Cousin, the lion. 
Tom Dashall, through the Metropolis. By 
an Amateur,' illustrated by W. Heath and 
H. Alktm, Dighton, Brooke, Rowlandson, &c., 
May 18:?1, and following months to 1822, in 
sixpenny numbers. This was a favoured rival 
to * Life in London,* and there was a suspicion 
that Egan was its author, but this is impro- 
bable. Other imitations were David Carey's 

* Life in Paris, the Rambles of Dick Wildfire,' 
&c., illustrated by George Cruikshank,* 1821 ; 
' The Sprees of Tom, Jerrv, and Logick [sic] ; ' 
' A New Song of Flash, Vashion, Frolic, and 
Fun,' with general heading of * Life in Lon- 
don,' and clumsy woodcut copies of groups 
after Gruikshank. The latter was published 
and signed by James Gatnach, in Seven Dials, 
23 March 1822, price twopence. Innumerable 
pictures appeared, representing the characters 
and incidents ; print publishers made their 
market of the excitement, and the streets at 
night were certainly not quieter or * sporting 
cribs ' less frequented when fashion adopted 

* Tom and Jerry ' habits. At many of the play- 
houses dramatic versions increased the noto- 
riety. First of these was Mr. W. Barrymore's 
plav, produced at the Royal Amphitheatre 
on "Monday, 17 Sept. 1821 ; Gomersal acted 
Corinthian Tom, Jones and Herring took Jerry 
Hawthorn and Bob Logic. At the Olympic, 
an extravaganza called * Life in London,' by 
("harles I. M. Dibdin the younger [see under 
DiBDix, Charles], was produced on 12 Nov. 
1821, with Baker, Oxberry, and Sam Vale 
as Tom, Jerry, and Logic. W. T. Moncrieff 
(supposed pseudonym of W. J. Thoms) wrote 
the (irnmatic version for the Adelphi, ' Tom 
and Jerry ; or. Life in London,' with many 
songs and glees, costume and scenery super- 
intended by Robert Gruikshank. Produced 
on Monday, 26 Nov. 1821, it had a great 
^run,' with Wrench, W. Burroughs, and Wil- 
kinson as Tom, Jerry, and Logic, Walboum 
and Sanders for Dusty Bob and Black Sal, 
^Irs. Baker and Mrs. Waylett as Corinthian 
Kate and Sue. This version was adopted 
throughout the country and in the United 



States, everyn'here securing crowded houses. 
Tom Dibdin [q. v.], Farrel, and Douglas Jer- 
rold separately dramatised it during 1821 and 
1822. For Lg^erton, Egan himself prepared 
a dramatic version produced at Sadler's wells 
on Monday, 8 April 1822, with Elliott, Bob 
Keeley, and Vale as Tom, Jerry, and Logic. 
In this version, intended for Covent Garden, 
in December 1821, Egan had planned to 
marry Hawthorn and Mary Rosebud, when 
'Jerrysees his folly, acknowledges his error, 
with Hawthorn Hill in perspective,' and con- 
cludes with ' Tom and Corinthian Kate made 
happy.* Postponed for six months and trans- 
ferred to Sadler's Wells it was performed 191 
nights. The book was translated at Paris by 

M. S in 1822. At this date (1822) Egan 

lived at Spann's Buildings, St. Pancras. At 
Paris the French translation was entitled 
*The English Diorama; or. Picturesque 
Rambles in London,* 1822. On 2 June, at 
the Coburg Theatre, was produced T. Green- 
wood's * Death of Life in London; or, Tom 
and Jerry's Funeral.' 

In 1828 Egan, rebuking the pirates and 
plagiarists, produced his * Finish to the Ad- 
ventures of Tom, Jerry, and Logic, in their 
Pursuits through Life in and out of London, 
with numerous coloured illustrations by Ro- 
bert Cniikshank ' Tn. d.) In this he intro- 
duced far more ot the country sports and 
misadventures, anticipating, and no doubt 
suggesting, much of the character of Dickens's 
* Pickwick Papers,' which were soon to follow 
and to excel it. He felt bound to display 
the consequences of such reckless prodigality 
and riot, oy now introducing more serious 
incidents : the inconstancy, degradation, and 
suicide of Kate, the misery and deathbed of 
Logic, the sufferings as a convict of * splendid 
Jem,' the sickness and remorse of Jerry, who 
reforms, retreats to the country, marries Mary 
Rosebud, his early sweetheart, and developes 
into a generous landlord and justice of peace ; 
with the death of Corinthian Tom, who breaks 
his neck at a steeplechase. Strangely enough 
this concluding portion of the work remained 
wholly unknown to, or forgotten by, Thacke- 
ray, who writes of it as though merely sug- 
gested and never executed. It was reissued 
in 1871 by John Camden Hotten, with the 
original thirty-six aquatint plates. Possess- 
ing less of * rattling gaiety ' there is plenty of 
incident and more literary polish than in the 
antecedent ' Life.' Egan spent most of his 
time between the publication of these two 
books in varied literary work. He reported 
and published a full * Account of the Trial 
of John Thurtell and Joseph Hunt ' for the 
murder of William Weare. * With an ap- 
pendix disclosing some extraordinary facts, 



Egan 



144 



Egan 



exclusively in the possession of the editor/ 
1824. It was certified as a fact that Thurtell 
seven hours before his execution had said : 
' It is perhaps wrong in my situation, but I 
own 1 should like to read Pierce Egan's 
account of the great fight yesterday,* mean- 
ing one between Tom Spring and Lankan. 
Egan was present at the Old Bailey sessions 
on 30 Oct. 1824, at the trial of Henry Faunt- 
leroy [q. v.] for forgery, and published a full 
report. In 1822 he had issued *The Life 
and Extraordinary Adventures of S. D. Hay- 
ward, denominated the Modem Macheath,' 
a highwayman condemned to death and exe- 
cuted 25 Nov. 1821. In 1821 Egan wTote a 
humorous account of a trial in the court of 
common pleas, 23 April, entitled * The Fancy 
Tog's Man versus Young Sadboy the Milling 
Quaker.' Iklr. Gore was the tailor, Edmund 
Foster pleading to be a minor, the defendant. 
Egan furnished the * slang phrases ' to Fran- 
cis Grose's * Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,' 
1823. On Sunday, 1 Feb. 1824, with motto 
of * Our king and country,' he commenced 
editing * Pierce Egan's Life in London and 
Sporting Guide,' a weekly newapa])er, price 
%\d.y afterwards merging into * Bell's Life in 
London.' His portrait, drawn by George 
Sharpless, engraved by Charles Turner, was 
published *at Pierce Egan's tiny crib in 
Chancery Lane,' 1824. lie published in the 
same year his more ambitious work, well 
illustrated by Theodore Lane, and dedicated 
to Edmund *Kean, ' The Life of an Actor ; ' 
the hero, Peregrine Proteus, ending with a 
successful performance before royalty, after 
all the vicissitudes of provincial engagements 
and poverty. This work was popular, and, 
commencing in January 1824, was completed 
in 1825. In 1827 appeared Egan's 'Anec- 
dotes, Original and Selected, of the Turf, the 
Chnse, the Ring, and the Stage, embellished 
with thirteen coloured plates by Theodore 
Lane.' His * Walks through Bath,' and his 
'Trip to Ascot llaces,' 1828, preceded the 
issue of his poem entitled * The Show Folks,' 
embellished with nine designs on wood by 
the late Theodore Lane, engraved by John 
Thompson, 1831, accompanied by an interest- 
ing memoir of Lane [q. v.], who had died 
28 May 1828. This book was written by Egan 
to benefit Lane's widow and children. His 

* Life of an Actor ' had been planned to bene- 
fit Lane in 1824. In 1831 he published 

* Matthews's Comic Annual ; or. The Snuff- 
Box and the Leetel Bird: an original hu- 
mourous poem by Pierce Egan.' His im- 
portant work, * Pierce Egan's Uook of Sporta 
and Mirror of Life,' was completed, after se- 
rial publication, in 1832, and is a worthy 
companion of Hone's * Every Day Book,' and 



the best work of its class, fully illustrated on 
every variety of country sports and pastimes, 
invaluable for reference. Egan's next work 
was a serial dedicated by express permission 
to the young Queen Victoria, and completed 
on New Year's day 1838, entitled * The Pd- 
grims of the Thames in Search of the Na- 
tional.' This undertaking introduced to a 
wider public the artistic merits of his son 
Pierce, who designed and etched the nume- 
rous illustrations of * Greenwich Park,' * Rich- 
ardson's Show,' * Hampton Races,' *The 
Match Girl,' * TheRiver,^ ' Windsor,' ' Vaux- 
hall,' * Gravesend,' * Source of the Thames,' 

* The Nore Light,' * Lord Mayor's Show,' &c. 
Egan*s later years were spent in peaceful re- 
tirement. The editor of * Bell's Life in Lon- 
don ' wrote : * Pierce was, with all his oddi- 
ties, a right-minded fellow, and was respected 
by all to whom he was known.' Among his 
numerous fugitive works were * fancy ditties ' 
of every description, mirthful and serious, but 
never off'ensive ; also guide-books to Dublin, 
Liverpool, &c., for he knew every spot in 
Great Britain. * The veteran historian of the 
ring and sporting journalist ' died on Friday, 
3 Aug. 1849, at his house in Pentonville, 
London, *aged 77 years,' leaving a large 
family behind him, * most of whom are able 
to take care of themselves ' {Bell's Life), 

[Works cited throughout ; John Camden Hot- 
ten's Preface to his edition of Life in London, 
1 870 ; Charles Hindley's Life and Times of James 
Catnach, 1878 ; European Magazine, November 
1821 ; (rent. Mag. n^w ser. xzxii. 548 ; Bell's 
Life in London, 12 Aug. 1849, &c.] J. W. E. 

EGAN, PIERCE, the younger ^1814- 
1880), novelist, son of Pierce Egan [q. v.], 
the author of ^ Life in London,' and associate(l 
with him in several of his works, was bom 
in London in 1814, and early showed a taste 
for drawing. He was educated to follow art 
professionally, became a close frequenter of 
theatres, anrl made sketches during the per- 
formances, afterwards et<?hing these designs, 
which were published as frontispieces to the- 
plays in Davidge's 'Acting Drama.' His 
most ambitious work as an artist was a series 
of etchings to illustrate his father's serial^ 

* The Pilgrims of the Thames in Search of tlie 
National,' 1837. These were so successful 
and promising that he might have taken a 
fair position as an illustrator, and been well 
remunerated, but he preferred novel wTiting. 
His novels secured a ready sale; being first 
issued in weekly numbers, and afterwards in 
volumes. Several of them contained wood- 
cuts and etchings by the author. Among^ 
these were * Wat Tyler,' in 3 books, 1B41, re- 
published in 1851, full of ghastly incidenis 



Egan 



MS 



Egan 



•f slaughter, with love scenes ; * Robin Hood ; ' 
^ Adam Bell, Clym o' the Cleugh, and Wil- 
liam of Cloudeslie,' a long story of woodland 
adventures, 1842, with one of Egan's best 
etchings ; * Paul Jones,' the privateer, 2 vols., 
with Egan's etched frontispiece and designs 
on wood, 1842. Other early works were, 
* The London Apprentice, and the Goldsmith's 
Daughter of East Chepe ; * * Edward the Black 
Prince ; or, Feudal Days ; ' and * Clifton Grey ; 
or. Love and War,' a tale of the Crimean 
war, published in 1854-5. In spite of the ex- 
travagant narrations of feudal cruelty, these 
early works were inotfensive, never immoral 
nor irreligious. But their unrealitv, owing 
to their author's superficial knowledge of 
history, is very conspicuous. He contributed 
to the early volumes of the * Illustrated Lon- 
don News,' started in 1842, and from 7 July 
1849 to the end of 1851 edited the * Home 
Circle.' In Xos. 53-119, vols, iii-v. of this 
work, ending 11 Oct. 1851, reappeared, ex- 
tended and recast, his * Quintyn Matsys, the 
Blacksmith of Antwerp,' afterwards reissued 
separately in library form with illustrations. 
An early edition had been published about 
1839. He wrote in January 1857 for * Rey- 
nolds's Miscellany,' Nos. 444-8, a popular 
Christmas story called * The Waits;' since 
republished in John Dicks's series of * English 
Novels,' Xo. 1 06. Also in ' Reynolds's Miscel- 
lanv,' * The False Step ; or the Castle and the 
Cottage' (begun 21 Feb. 1867, ended 3 Oct., 
!Nos. 450-82). He then transferred himself 
to the * I^ndon Journal,' to the success of 
which he largely contributed, remaining one 
of its most attractive contributors until the 
<}nd of his life. Sir John Gilbert illustrated 
many of the following works. On 6 Dec. 

1857, in vol. xxvi. No. 667, appeared the first 
chapters of Egan's 'Flower of the Flock.' 
It ended in No. 089, and was next week fol- 
lowed bv * The Snake in the Grass ' (8 May 

1858, ending 27 Nov. 1858, in No. 720). A 
note from Pierce Egan to the public craved 
leave of absence for a brief period * to recruit 
health and stren^h.' Otherwise he was sin- 
gularly unobtrusive, and avoided all personal 
squabbles. He had married, and already had 
several children, enjoying a fair income de- 
rived from his literary work. He afterwards 
developed a completely different style from 
iiis early feudal extravagances, and delighted 
in rural scenes, intermingled with tragic inci- 
dents of town poverty and aristocratic splen- 
dour. Despite sensationalism and contrasta 
of ranks and classes, there was always a sin- 
f^lar charm of purity and wholesome honesty 
in all his * London Journal ' serials. In 1858 
and 1869 a new proprietor of the * Journal,' 
to enooorage a higher taste among the pur- 

YOL. XYU. 



chasers of penny miscellanies, dispensed with 
Egan's services and reprinted three novels by 
Sir Walter Scott. But the circulation of the 
' Journal 'diminished, so that Pierce Egan was 
again summoned to restore the popularity. 
This he attempted, somewhat humealy, with 
a slight story called * The Love Test' (15 Jan. 
1869, in vol. xxix., completed in No. 746 on 
28 March). After a short interval he began 
a new story, with his best power, * Love 
me. Leave me Not' (22 Oct. 1859, ending 
30 June 1860, Nos. 767-803). In rapid suc- 
cession, with undiminished success, there fol- 
lowed * The Wonder of Kingswood Chace ' 
(6 Oct. 1860 to 6 July 1861, Nos. 817-66); 

* Imogine : or The Marble Heart ' (7 Sept. 
1861 to 14 June 1862, Nos. 805-905); *The 
Scarlet Flower,' in which he went back to 
cavalier days (7 June 1862 to 15 Nov., Nos. 
904-27); *The Poor Girl,' one of his best 
known novels (on 1 Nov. 1862 to 5 Sept. 
1863) ; * Such is Life ' (5 Dec. 1863 to 2 July 
1864, Nos. 982-1012) ; * Fair Lilias ' (14 Jan. 
1865 to 16 Dec. 1865, Nos. 1040-88) ; * The 
Light of Love ; or the Diamond and the 
Snowdrop' (28 April 1806 to 16 Feb. 1867, 
Nos. 1 107-49) ; * Eve ; or The Angel of Inno- 
cence/ another widely popular work (18 May 
to 21 Dec. 1867, Nos. 1162-93). The in- 
cessant toil and excitement of such rapid 
production told on him, but * Eve ' embodied 
his bestthoughts, which lacked neither poetry 
of expression nor some higher flights of ima- 
gination, such as his early years had never 
promised. His personal friends valued him 
for his manly qualities, and his readers ad- 
mired him. He wrote nothing in vol. xlvii., 
but resumed^ on 6 Sept. 1868 with * The 
Blue-eved Witch; or not a Friend in the 
World'' (ending 8 May 1869, Nos. 1230-65). 
Henceforward his powers diminished, as 
may be seen in his wild and ghastly story 
*My Love Kate; or the Dreadful Secret' 
(ONov. 1809 to7 May 1870,Nos. 1291-1317); 
and in his attempt to trade on his former 
success with 'The Poor Girl' (a study of a 
virtuous maiden triumphing over persecu- 
tions and temptations) by his adding a com- 
panion novel entitled * The Poor Boy ' (8 Oct. 
1870 to 8 April 1871, Nos. 1339-66). Of 
other works the titles and dates were these : 

* Mark Jarrett s Daisy, the Wild Flower of 
Hazelbrook ' (25 Nov. 1871 to 25 May 1872, 
Nos. 1398-1424, in vol. Iv.) ; * Ever my 
Queen' (16 Feb. to 6 Julv 1873, Nos. 1462- 
1482) ; ' Her First Love ' (21 March to 8 Aug. 
1874, Nos. 1519-39, in vol. Ix.); 'False 
and Frail' (13 Feb. to 19 June 1875, Nos. 
1566-84) ; * The Pride of Birth ' (20 Nov. 
1875 to 1 April 1876, Nos. 1606-25) ; ' Two 
Young Hearts' (25 Nov. 1876 to 14 April 



Egbert 



146 



Egbert 



1877, Nos. 1659-79) ; then, after short inter- 
Tals, *IIi9 Sworn Bride' (16 Dec. 1877 to 
4 May 1878, Nos. 1714-34, in vol. Ixvi.) ; 
* Loved in Secret ' (2 Nov. 1878 to 29 March 

1879, Nos. 1760-81) ; and, his latest work of 
all, at first entitled * A Shadow on the Thres- 
hold,* but the name having been anticipated 
elsewhere, it was changed to * A Shadow on 
the Future * (13 Dec. 1879, ending on March 

1880, Nos. 1818-33, in vol. Ixxi.) He was 
a liberal in politics, and had been for some 
time connected with the 'Weekly Times.' 
He is deservedly accounted * one of the pio- 
neers of cheap literature.' His * Snake in the 
Grass' was republished in 1887. He died 
on 6 July 1880. 

[Works mentione<l above, -with dates; obi- 
tuary notice in Athenoeum, No. 2750, p. 49, &c.] 

J. W. E. 

EGBERT or ECGBERHT, Saint (639- 
729), was an Angle, doubtless a Northum- 
brian, of noble lineage, who some time after 
652 went to Ireland. Among his companions 
there were /Ethelhun, brother of ^^thelwine, 
subsequently bishop of Lindsey, and the more 
famous Ceadda. \oung men visited Ireland 
either for study or to cultivate in its highest 
form the monastic life. Ecgberht was one of 
those who * visited the cells of the masters,' 
and were entertained without cost and re- 
ceived gratuitous instruction from the hos- 
Sitnble islanders. But in 664 a terrible plague 
esolated both Britain and Ireland, ana Ecg- 
berht and yEtlielwine were seized with the 
disorder when sojourning at the monastery 
of Rnthmelsigi, a house placed l)y some in 
Connaught, and identified by others with 
Mellifont, near Droghcda, but in both cases 
on insuilicient evidence. Fearing that death 
was at hand, Ecgberht, as Bneda was told by a 
hoary priest who had heard the story from 
Ecgberht himself, prayed that he might have 
time for repentance, and vowed solemnly that 
if he recovered he would never return to 
Britain, would recite the whole psalter every 
day, and would fast a day ana a night in 
every week. His comrade died, but Ecgberht 
recovered and became a priest and a monk. 
For the rest of his long lite he kept his vows 
and soon won a great reputation for humi- 
lity, kindness, continency, simplicity, and 
justice. He added to his old vows a new 
one, that he would only refresh himself once 
a day in Lent, the forty days before Christ- 
mas, and the forty after Pentecost, and then 
only on a limited quantity of bread and 
skimmed milk. He was exceptionally learned 
in the scriptures. The stuuents and monks 
fipom England sought his counsel. One of 
them, Higbald, afterwards an abbot in Lind- 



sey, relates how Ecgberht told him that he 
knew a man in Ireland who on the night of 
Ceadda*8 death (2 March 672) saw in a vision 
the spirit of Cedd, his brother, descending 
from heaven with an angel host to fetch his 
brother to his reward in the celestial realms. 
Baeda suspected that Ecgberht himself had 
this vision, but is not sure. In later times, 
however, there was no hesitation in making 
Ecgberht the witness of this miracle (Flok. 
Wig. 8. a. 672). Twelve years later Ecg- 
berht boldly remonstratea with the rasa 
Ecgfrith, king of the Northumbrians, who, 
as part of his policy of war against the Celtic 
neighbours and tributaries of his kingdom, 
carried on an unprovoked war with the 
friendly Irish. Ecgfrith's death next year 
in his war with the Picts was generally re- 
garded as the penalty of his neglect of Ecg- 
berht's counsel. Ecgberht*s vow kept him 
away from Britain, but he was seized with an 
irresistible impure to preach the gospel to the 
heathen Germans beyond the sea, especially 
the Frisians and the old Saxons. If this 
ambitious scheme should fail, he would at 
least be able to visit the threshold of the 
apostles at Rome. He chose his companions 
and his ship, but at the last moment a monk 
from Melrose who was among them was 
warned by his old abbot, Boisil, in a dream 
to tell Ecgberht to desist, and visit instead the 
monasteries of Columba. Ecgberht hesitated 
until the message was repeated in a second 
and clearer vision. A storm now cast his 
ship on the coast, and he finally desisted 
from his missionary journey. But he en- 
couraged others to go where it was forbidden 
for him to enter. Wihtberht, an English- 
man, long an anchorite in Ireland, under- 
took the Frisian mission in 690. He laboured 
two years without result and then returned 
in despair. But in 692 Ecgberht found in 
Willibrord [q. v.] and his twelve companions 
more fortunate missionaries. It was not , how- 
ever, until some years had elapsed that Ecg- 
berht proceeded to fulfil the divine command. 
He was still living among the Scots when 
about 705 he was consulted by Eanmund, 
the Northumbrian noble whom the cruelty 
of King Osred had driven into a monastery. 
At the monk's request Ecgberht consecrated 
an altar for tlie monastery of St. Peter. He 
also bade Eanmund build a chapel on a 
hill covered with thorn coverts, tne haunt 
of robbers. Eanmund fulfilled his request. 
Perhaps Utan the Scot, one of Eanmund's 
most zealous disciples, came from Ecgberht 
(^Ethblwulf, * Carmen de abbatibus cellie 
sua;,' in T. Arnold's Symeon of Durhamy 
i. 270-3, Rolls Ser.) It is remarkable that 
the relator of this story speaks of Ecgbeilit as 



Egbert 



147 



Egbert 



bishop, while Bicda always describes him as 
a presbyter. But Alcuin twice ( Vita S, Wil- 
Ubrordt ; and Versus de Sanctvjs JSboracensis 
jEcclesi<e, in Jaff6, vi. 43, 112) describes Ecg- 
berht as a bishop, just as -^^^thelwulf does. 
Despite the sanctity of Ecgberht's life and his 
orthodoxy on all the points of controversy be- 
tween the Roman and Celtic churches, I3a}da 
either ignores or forgets that he had in any 
sense the character of a bishop. 

At last, in 716, Ecgberht went on his mis- 
sion to lona. The Celtic Easter and tonsure 
had already lost ground even in the centre 
of Celtic Christianity. Adamnan [q. v.] had 
become since 686 an advocate of the Koman 
usages ; and after the synod of Tara in 692 
all the northern Scots but a few Columban 
monasteries had conformed to Rome. It was 
about this time that Ecgberht became anxious 
for their conversion, though he himself could 
hardly have been of the Celtic party even 
before this. But on Adamnan's death schism 
broke out in lona. When Ecgberht arrived in 
71() he found two rival abbots, though doubt- 
less the larger party were with the Abbot 
Dunchad on the Koman side. The traditions 
of the place tended powerfully for the local 
usages. Ecgberht 's eloquence and earnestness 
turned the monks from their old ways. In 
716 both Irish and English annalists com- 
memorate the abandonment of the Celtic 
Easter at lona (Tighemac, in Skene, Chron, 
JPicts and iScots, p. 73 ; Anglo-Saxon, Chroiu 
8. a. 716 ). In 717 Dunchad died, and Faelchu, 
the rival abbot, found his cause strengthened 
by the fugitive Columban monks expelled in 
that year from the dominions of Nectan, 
king of the Picts. Ecgberht still persevered. 
In 718 he forced on lona the Roman tonsure 
(Tighemac, in Skexe, p. 74). But the struggle 
was long and severe, and the victory gradual. 
Ecgberht never left lona, and doubtless found 
his work there in subduing the last traces of 
the schism. But his influence extended over 
the greater part of the land of the Scots. 
He had now attained an unusual age. He 
was ninety years old when, on Easter day 
(24 April) 729, he suddenly died, just afteV 
he haa completed the celelbration of mass. 
In him, as Baeda says, the English repaid to 
the Scots their gitt of Christianity by re- 
calling them to the true catholic knowledge 
of Easter. It was little less than a miracle 
that he died on Easter day. He was revered 
as a saint as earlv as the times of Alcuin. 

[Bffda Hintoria EIccIeHiasticaGentis Anglorum. 
iii. 4, 27, iv. 3, 26, v. 9, 10, 22 ; Chronicles of the 
Picts and Scots, ed. Skene, pp. 73, 74 ; Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle, 8.a. 716, 729; -ilthelwulf, in 
Symcon of Durham, wl. T. Arnold, i. 270-3 (Rolls 
Ser.) ; Jaff&'s Bibliotheca Remm Germanicarum, 



vi.43, 112; Skene's Celtic Scotland, ii. 278-81, 
corrects Bacda by comparison with the Irish 
sources ; Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ire- 
land, iii. 96, 135.] T. F. T. 

EGBERT or ECGBERHT (d, 766), arch- 
bishop of York, son of Eata and cousin of 
Ceolwulf [q. v.], the king of Northumbria, 
to whom Bffida dedicated his * History,' was 
sent by his father to a monastery to receive 
his education. When he had grown up he 
went to Rome with his brother Ecgred, and 
was ordained deacon there. Ecgred died at 
Rome, and Ecgberht returned home alone. 
He was appointed to the see of York by 
Ceolwulf, probably in 732 {Carmen de Ponr 
tiff. 1284; Addit. ad Bcedam, 734; A.S, 
Chron, 735, Symeon), and Bieda thereupon 
wrote him a long letter of advice as to his 
life and doctrine, the administration of his 
diocese, the evils that prevailed among the 
clergy, the corrupt state of the monasteries, 
and the measures of reform that he desired 
him to adopt (* Ad Ecgberctum antistitem,* 
Opera Hist. Min. 207-26). As a means of 
restoring discipline, he urged bim to forward 
the erection of new bishoprics and the ful- 
filment of the scheme of Pope Gregory, 
which invested the see of York with metro- 
politan authority by the gift of the pall. 
Acting on this advice Ecgberht obtained his 
pall at Rome from Gregory HI in 735, and 
thus became the second archbishop of York ; 
for as none of his predecessors since Paulinus 
received the vestment, they are not entitled 
to a higher title than that of bishop (Angiia 
SacrOf i. 06). His power was evidently 
greatly increased by the accession of his 
brother Eadberht [q. v.] to the Northumbrian 
throne in 738 ; he worked in perfect harmony 
with him, exercised full authority in eccle- 
siastical matters, and issued coins bearing 
his own name along with that of the king. 
He was learned, just, gracious, and libenu. 
He enriched the churches of his diocese 
with many splendid gifts, took care to or- 
dain worthy men as priests, and paid at- 
tention to the cultivation of church music. 
Above all, he founded the school attached to 
his cathedral church. In this school the 
ranji^e of teaching was wide, and besides di- 
vinity included the study of classical authors, 
and especially of Virgil, of grammar, arts, 
and science. The work of teaching was 
mainly confided to Albert (/Ethelberht), who 
succeeded Ecgberht as archbishop, and here 
among other scholars of note was educated 
Alcuin (Eahlwine), who also took part in 
the direction of the school. In the anony- 
mous * Life of Alcuin ' we are told that 
Ecgberht each morning, as soon as his busi- 
ness was transacted, used to sit on his couch 

l2 



Egbert 



14S 



Egbert 



and instruct his young clerks till midday ; he 
then prayed privately and celebrated mass. 
At dinner he ate sparingly, and listened to 
his scholars discussing literary questions. In 
the evening he always said the compline ser- 
vice with them, and then gave each his bless- 
ing siujfjly ( Vita Alcuini^ Bibl. rerum Oerm, 
3lff¥,^ IV. 1 0, 11 ). He corresponded with the 
English missionary Boniface, who wrote to 
him thanking him for his gifts, asking him to 
send him the ' Commentaries ' of Bseda, and 
consulting hiih on a question of church dis- 
cipline (epp. 60, 100). In 758 he received 
into his monastery his brother Eadberht, 
who voluntarily resigned his crown and be- 
came a monk. He died on 19 Nov. 766, after 
having ruled the diocese for thirty-four years 
{Carmen de Pontiff.; thirty-two years, Sy- 
meon), and was buried in one of the porches 
or chapels of his cathedral church. A letter 
of Paul I, with a superscription addressing 
it to Ecgberht as well as Eadberht, was really 
written to the king alone (Councils and JSccL 
Docs. iii. 394-0). Ecgberht wrote : 1. * The 
Pontificale,' or a book of ritual, first printed 
by the Surtees Society, vol. xxvi. 1863. 
2. The 'Succinctus Dialogus Ecclesiastics) 
Institutionis,* printed with two epistles of 
Bffida by Ware 1664, by Wharton 1693, by 
Wilkins in his * Concilia ' 1737, by Thorpe in 
his 'Ancient Laws and Institutes' 1840, and 
by Haddan and Stubbs in their * Councils,' 
&c.,18ol. 3. * The Pajnitentiale,* printed by 
Haddan and Stubbs in their * Councils,' &c., 
iii. 413 sq., from the text of Wasserschleben, 
which presents what may be taken as the 
genuine work of the archbishop. Other vcr- ' 
sions of the * Penitential ' ascribed to Ecg- 
berht have been printed by Spelman, Wilkins, 
and Thorpe, but in each case his work has 
been mixed up with much that is clearly 
extraneous. A book of * Excerptiones,' also 
ascribed to him, is of later date. The editors 
of the * Councils,' kc. (see above), in a learned 
not€ on the works attributed to Ecgberht, 
consider that * it seems rather more probable 1 
than not ' that he may have translated the 1 
Anglo-Saxon version or paraplirase of the 
* Confessionale ' from the * Penitential ' of 
the * so-called Cummeanus.' Other writings 
of which, if they ever existed, no traces now 
remain are ascribed to him by Bale {Scriptt. 
Brit, cent. ii. 109). 

fCarmen de Pontiff. Ebor. Eccl. 1247-86, His- 
torians of York, i. 386 ; Symeon of Durham, 
Hist. EccL Dunelm. ii. 3 (Rolls Ser.); B^dse 
Opera Hist. Minora, pp. 207-26 (Engl. Hist. 
Soc.) ; William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontiff, 
p. 245 (Rolls Ser.) ; Addit. ad Biedam, Mon. Hist. 
Brit. p. 288; Vita Alcuini, Jaflf%, pp. 10, 11 ; 
Bonifacii Epistoln, Jaff4 epp. 60, 100 ; Baine's 



Fasti Ebor. p. 94 sq. ; Haddan and Stubbs's 
Councils and Eccl. Docs. iii. 358 sq., 388 sq., 
413 sq. ; Wright's Biog. Lit. i. 297 sq. ; Diet, of 
Christian Biog., art. * Egbert,' by Canon Raine.] 

W. H. 

EGBERT, ECGBEBJaT,or ECGBRYHT 

(d. 839), king of the West-Saxons, son of 
Ealhmund, an under-king of the kingdom of 
Kent, which at this time, besides Kent, in- 
cluded Surrey, Sussex, and Essex (A.-S, 
Chron. sub an. 823), was when a young man 
banished from England by the joint action 
of Offa, king of Mercia, and Beorhtric [q. v.], 
king of Wessex. He represented the brancli 
of the house of Cerdic that sprang from Cuth- 
wine, the son of Ceawlin [q. v.], ifor his father 
was the great-grandson of Ingils, the brother 
of Ine. The West-Saxon kingship had de- 
parted from his house when Ine was suc- 
ceeded by his kinsman iEthelheard. When 
the West-Saxon king, Cynegils, died in 780, 
Ealhmund was reigning in Kent, and pro- 
bably died shortly aften^'ards ; for soon after 
Beorhtric succeeded Cynegils the pretensions 
of Ecgberht were held to endanger his throne. 
Beorhtric forced him to take refuge in Mercia, 
and sent an embassy to Offa offering alliance 
and requesting that the fugitive might be 
given up. Offa determined to support Beorh- 
tric, probably because the accession of Ecg- 
berht to the West-Saxon kingdom might 
have led to the withdrawal of Kent from the 
Mercian over-lordship and its union with 
Wessex ; he therefore made alliance with the 
West-Saxon king, gave him hL<» daughter 
Eadburh fq. v.] to wife in 789, and joined 
him in driving Ecgberht out of England. 
Ecgberht took refuge with the Frankish king, 
Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles the 
Great (Charlemagne), who entertained many 
exiles from the aifferent English kingdoms. 
The dnte of Ecgberht's banishment and its 
duration are uncertain. The * Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle ' (sub an. 836), Florence of Wor- 
cester (i. 69), and Henry of Huntingdon (p. 
733) say that his exile lasted for three years ; 
William of Malmesbury ( Gesta Reginn^ sec. 
106) makes it last for thirteen years. While, 
as far as written evidence goes, the period 
of tliree years thus rests on strong ground, 
it is less probable than the other. Ecgberht 
certainly came to the throne in 802 (Kemble, 
Coder IHpl. Introd. p. 87 ; Eccl. Documents^ 
iii. 557, the dates of the * Chronicle ' needing 
correction by two years at this period), and it 
is likely that he returned to England in that 
year on the death of Beorhtric ; his exile, 
however, could not have begun three years 
before that date, as Offa was then dead. If 
the account given in the 'Chronicle' i^ to be 
accepted, his return must have taken place 



Egbert 



149 



Egbert 



on the death of Offa in 796, and his exile in 
793, a date which seems to have no signi- 
ficance in this connection^ while if William 
of Malmesbury's statement of the matter is 
correct, his exile would coincide with the 
marriage of Beorhtric to Ofia's daughter, and 
would come to an end when, on the death of 
Beorhtric, he returned to England to ascend 
the West-Saxon throne; and it is highly 
probable that Malmesbury based his story on 
some version of the * Chronicle ' that has not 
been preserved. According to this theory, 
then, Ecgberht was banished in 789, and re- 
mained with Charles for thirteen years. No- 
thing is known of his life during his exile 
save that Henry of Huntingdon records the 
tradition that he dwelt in honour. At the 
same time account must be taken of the in- 
fluence that his long stay at the court of the 
Frankish monarch must have had on his 
future career, of the lessons in war and em- 
pire that he must have learnt there. He re- 
turned to England in 802, and was accepted 
by the West-Saxons as their king. No op- 
position seems to have been offered to his 
accession by Cenwulf of Mercia, and it may 
reasonably be supposed that his acquiescence 
had been secured by the emperor {Making 
of Englandy p. 431 ). Nothing is recorded of 
Ecgberht for the next thirteen years; for the 
statement that appears in the register of a 
hospital at York that soon after his accession 
he neld a * parliament' at Winchester, in 
which he ordered that the name of his king- 
dom should be changed from Britain to Eng- 
land (Monasticon, vi. 608), does not need 
confuting here. It should, nowever, be noted 
that he dates certain charters granted in the 
later years of liis reign (Kemble, Code,v 
BipL 1035, 1036, 1038) by the year of his 
'ducatus,' which he refers to 812 or 813 
(Stubbs, art. * Egbert,* Dictionary of Chris- 
tian Biography), W^hatever he may have 
meant by the term Mucatus,' it certainly 
points to some accession of dignity, and as 
in 815 {A,^S. Chron, sub an. 813) he * laid 
waste West Wales [Cornwall] from east- 
ward to westward,' it has been conjectured 
(Stubbs) that he refers to the beginning of 
this war, which in later days he probably 
regarded as the first step towards the attain- 
ment of the leadership he afterwards won. 
From 815 he does not appear again until 
824, when he held a meeting of the W'est- 
Saxon witan at Acle, probably Oakley in 
Hampshire (Kemble, Coder DipL 1031 ). The 
next year was evidently marked by a rising 
of the West Welsh, who were defeated by 
the men of Devon at Gafulford or Camef- 
ford, a war in which Ecgberht took part 
in person {Angla-Saxtm Chronicle, sub an. 



823; Florence; Kemble, Codex DipL 1033; 
Stubbs). 

As soon as Ecgberht had overthrown the 
Welsh of Cornwall he had to repel a Mercian 
invasion. The greatness of Mercia had been 
shaken by civil discord since the death of 
Cenwulf in 821 ; his successor was deposed, 
and another king, Beornwulf, chosen in his 
place. Beornwulf, who no doubt took ad- 
vantage of the rising of the Welsh, seems to 
have marched far into Wessex. Ecgberht 
defeated him at Ellandune, probably in the 
neighbourhood of Winchester, for Ilun, an 
ealdorman who fell in the battle, was buried 
there (-^thelweard, p. 510). The slaughter 
was great on both sides, and the * river of 
blood * that was shed was commemorated in 
popular verse (Henry of Huxtixgdon, p. 
733). Beornwulf fled, and set himself to 
gather another army. From Ellandune Ecg- 
berht sent his son ^thelwulf, Ealhstan, the 
bishop of Sherborne, and an ealdorman, with 
a large force, to regain his father's kingdom of 
Kent. Baldred, king of Kent [q. v. ], was driven 
across the Thames, and the people of Kent, 
Surrey, Sussex, and Essex willingly submitted 
to Ecgberht as the rightful successor of his 
father. The king and people of East Anglia, 
who were under the over-lordship of Mercia, 
also sent to him seeking his ' peace and pro- 
tection.' On this Beornwulf led his army 
against them, and began to lay waste the 
country, but they defeated and slew him 
(826), and remained imder the over-lordship 
of Ecgberht (Florence, i. 66; Henry of 
Huntingdon, p. 733). Mercia, however, was 
not yet subdued, for Beornwulf was suc- 
ceeded by Ludecan, who made another at- 
tempt to subdue East Anglia, and was like- 
wise defeated and slain in 828. He was 
succeeded by Wiglaf. Ecgberht, however, at 
once led an army against him, drove him from 
the kingdom, and received the submission of 
Mercia. In 829 he marched against North- 
umbria, and the Northumbrians met him on 
the border of their land at Dore in Derby- 
shire, and there submitted to him and took 
him for their lord. Under this year (827, 
correctly 829) the * Chronicle ' says of him 
that he was the eighth Bretwalda. He had 
for the first time united all the English race 
under one over-lordship, and, though there 
were future divisions of his empire, his work 
was never wholly undone {Making of Eng- 
landf p. 436). lie was not king of England, 
for the idea of a territorial kingship belongs 
to a later period. Nor was he the immediate 
ruler of the peoples that had submitted to 
him ; they still had kings of their own, who 
were dependent on the West-Saxon over- 
lord, and in 830 Ecgberht restored Wiglaf 



Egbert 



ISO 



Egbert 



to the throne of Mercia as under-king. In 
the case of Kent, where the kingship had 
come to an end, Ecgberht adopted a special . 
policy. The kingdom was important, both 
as the scat of the ecclesiastical government 
of England, and as the district most closely 
connected with the continent. At the same 
time the greatness of the primate, and the 
strong local feeling that had manifested itself 
in opposition to Mercia, rendered it unad- 
yisablo to attempt a policy of absolute an- 
nexation. Accordingly Ecgberht, who re- 
garded the kingdom as peculiarly his own. 
Bestowed it on his son /Kthelwult, probably 
in 828 (Kemblb, Cod^ Dipl 223, 224), 
and it remained attached to the heir to the 
West-Saxon throne until it was united with 
the rest of the south of England on the suc- 
cession of -i^thelberht to the kingdom of 
"Wesscx (Ckmstituttonal Hist i. 172). There 
is some uncertainty as to the date at which 
Ecgberht made his son king of Kent, and it is 
further questioned (Eccl. VocumentSy iii. 657) ' 
whether the subjugation of the country took 
place before 827, the date assigned to it in 
the St. Albans compilation (Wendover). 
There seem, however, sufficient grounds for 
the dates given here. Ecgberht's * charters ' 
record a few personal incidents, such as his 
presence at the war of 825, and his grants, 
not many in number, to churches, and espe- 
cially to Winchester (Kemble, Codex Dtpl. 
1033, 1035 sq.) In a charter of 828 {ib, 
223) he is styled 'rex Anglorum;' this, 
however, must not be taken as signifying 
more than the over-lordship of East Anglia; 
the same style was used by Offa in 772 {ib, 
102); and in 830 he is described simply 
as ' king of the West-Saxons and Kentish- 
men,* and in 833 as * king of the West-Saxons ' 
(iZ». 224, 232). His description as 'king 
of Kent and other nations ' in another char- 
ter of 833 {ib, 234) does not necessarily 
imply any termination of yEthelwulf 's autho- 
rity ; Ecgberht was presiding over a meeting 
of the Kentish witan, and naturally used the 
style of the kingdom ; it is, however, curious 
that yEthelwulfs name does not occur among 
the witnesses {Eccl. DoctinientSy iii. 557). 
Coins of Ecgberht are rare, though speci- 
mens are extant struck by about nineteen 
different moneyers. On some of these, be- 
sides his name and title of * rex,' there is 
*Saxo,' on others 'M,' and on others * A,' 




tainly as to Ecgberht's administrative work 
in his immediate kingdom .of Wessex. It 
has, however, been conjectured with great 
probability that he brought the shire organi- 



sation to its completion there, both as regards 
the relations of the bishop with the shire and 
the appointment of the ealdorman as the 
leader of the shire force or * fyrd,' an arrange- 
ment which enabled the West-Saxons to otter 
a spirited resistance to the Scandinavian in- 
vaders {Conquest of England^ pp. 47, 68-70, 
233). His dealings with the church of Can- 
terbury are of peculiar importance. The 
Mercian kings had attemptea to depress the 
power of the archbishops ; Ecgberht made it 
a means of strengthemng his own position. 
He probably procured the election of Ceol- 
noth in 832, who may have been a West- 
Saxon (Robertson). At all events he was 
in full accord with him, and in 838, at an 
ecclesiastical council held at Kingston, he 
and his son -^thelwulf entered into an agree- 
ment of perpetual alliance with the arch- 
bishop and church of Canterbury, the arch- 
bishop promising for himself, his cliurch, and 
his successors unbroken friendship to the 
kings and their heirs, and the kings giving 
assurances of protection, liberty of election, 
and peace. A charter containing a similar 
agreement with the bishop and church of 
Winchester is, if genuine, an imitation of 
that drawn up at Kingston {EccL Documents^ 
iii. 017-20). 

The restoration of Wiglaf was probably 
caused by some hostile movement of the 
Welsh on the Mercian border, which ren- 
dered it advisable to secure the fidelity and 
provide for the defence of the kingdom ; for 
in that year (831) Ecgberht led an army 
against the *^orth Welsh' (the people of 
the present Wales) and compelled them to 
acknowledge his over-lordship. In 834 his 
dominions were invaded by the Scandinavian 
pirates, who plundered the isle of Sheppey. 
The next year they came to Charmouth in 
Dorsetshire with thirty-five ships and landed 
there. Ecgberht fought a fierce battle with 
them there and was defeated. Two years 
later, in 837, a great fleet of northmen, pro- 
bably from Ireland {Conquest of Enffland^ 
p. 07), sailed over to Cornwall, and the West 
Welsh rose against the West-Saxon domi- 
nion and joined the invaders. Ecgberht met 
the allies at nengest<lune, immediately to the 
west of the Tamar, and routed them com- 
pletely. He died in 839 (.4.-*^. Chroii, sub 
an. 836), after a reign of thirty-seven years 
and seven months, and was succeeded by lus 
son -^thelwulf. 

[Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Rolls Sor.) ; Florence of 
Worcester (Engl. Hist. Soc.) ; Honry of Hun- 
tingdon and ^thelweard, Mon. Hist. Brit. ; 
William of Malmesbury's Gesta Rcgum (Eogl. 
Hist. Soc.) ; Kcmble's Codex Biploinaticus (Engl. 
Hist. Soc.); Hawkins's Silver Coins, ed. Ken- 



Egerton 



Egerton 



7011, vol. iii. ; HaddaD and StuLbb'a EcdcBius- 
tickl DoeamentB, toL iii. Much light U tbroim 
on tho chronology of Ecgberht's reign, p. 657, 
is Biahop Stublis'B InUod. to Roger Hov^on, 
I. ic-icriii.oDdin tbs Introductioo to the Codex 
IKpI. ; for the other side of the question see 
Hardy's Introd. to Mon. Hist. Bnt. p. ISO; 
Stubbs'a Conatitntional Histoiy. i. iT2, 235, and 
hii ezhsDitiTB art. ' Egbert,' Diet, of Christian 



p. 200. 

EGERTON, CHARLES CHANDLER ' 
(1798-1885), surgeon, was born at liisfnther's 
■vicarage of Thorncombe in Dorsetshire in 
April 1798, and received hia medical educa- 
tion at the then united hospitals of St. Tho- 
jnaa'a and Gut's. Inl819bo became amem- 
lier of the College of Surgeons. Four years 
later lie was appointed by the East India 
Company assiBtant-sur^n on the Bengal 
establishment to practise as an oculist, and 
«apecially to take charge of those Indo-Euro- 

nn lads at the lower orphan school who 
contracted disease of the e^es. He dealt 
successfully with the epidemic there, and 
during his stay in India lie held the tirst 
position aa an oculist at the Eye Hospital, 
which was established under his own imme- 
mediate care, and afterwards at the Medical 
College Hospital. He was appointed the 
first Euc^reon at the Calcutta Medical College 
Hospital, and held that [msition until he re- 
tired from the service. The establishment 
of the college for teaching the natives ana- 
tomy by actual dissection was mainly due 
to his exertions. Early in 1817 heleft India, 
and, retiring from practice, resided at Ken- 
dal Lodge, Epping, until his death, which 
took place there in May 1885, at the age of 
eighty-seven. 

(Address of the President of tlio Royal Mclico- 
Chirunjical Society of London on I March 1H8G.] 
J. D. 

EaERTON,DASIEL(1772-I83.T),actor, 
was bom in the city of London on 14 April 
1772. According to various accounts, pre- 
fiumablv supplied bv himself, he was ' bred 
to the taw 111 a public office.' The ' Thespian 
Uictionary,' ISO-"), says, however, 'he was in 
business near Whitechapel, and made hie 
first attempt on the stage in this assumed 
name at the Kovally Theatre.' He plaved 
also once or twice for benetits at the llay- 
markel. (Jn 4 June I7!K> he made, as Cap- 
tain Absolute in ' The Rivals,' his first ap- 
pearance at tlic Birmingham theatre, then 
under the management of the elder Macrcndy. 
Here he remained two summers, playing dur- 
ing the winter months with Slepnen Ki-mble 
in Edinburgh. On ^8 Nov. 1801, as Milla- 



mour in Murphy's ' Know your own Mind,' 

he made his first appearance at Newcastle, 
and on 17 May 1^, aa Frederick in the 
, ' Poor Gentleman,' was first seen in Bath, 
where he also played Jnffier in ' Venice Fra- 

eervedg'and other characters. After thede- 

Krture of EUiston from Bath, Egerton took 
ques. Lord Townlj;, Mr. Oakley in ' The 
Jealous Wife,' RoUa in ' Pizarro,' and many 
important parts. He left Dath for Ijondon in 

I 1809, appearing on 28 Oct. at Covent Garden 

I during the 0. P. riots as Lord Avondale in 
the ' School of Reform.' In tragedy Kmg 
Henry VIII, Tullua Aufidius in ' Coriolanu^ 
Syphai in ' Cato,' and Clytus in 'Alexander 
theGreat'wereesteemedhisbest parts. From 

' this time until close upon his death ho re- 
mained a member of the Covent Gulden com^ 
pany, his chief occupation being secondary 

j characters in tracedy or serious dmma and 



technically called ' heavy l 
While engaged at Covent Garden he assumed 
themanagement first of Sadler's Wells(1831- 
1824), and of the Olympic (1821). He acted 
himself at neither house, though his wife, 



principal a 
Olympic embroiled him for a time with the 
management of Covent Garden. It was, how- 
ever, a failure and was soon abandoned. Or 
1 July 1833, in conjunction with William 
Abbot [q. v.], his associate at Covent Garden, 
ho opened the Victoria Theatre, previously 
known as the Coburg. In 1834 he retired 
from the management ruined, and died in July 
{'iind. Era Almanack; a4th, Osberst, Z>ra- 
matic Chronology) of the following year. He 
was five feet ten inches in height, of strong 



_._ iiarges h 

acting. The 'Thespian Dictionary' says he 
gave in Birmingham in 1800 an entertainment 
of his own extracted from Stevens's 'Lecture 
on Ileads.'&c, and entitled 'Whimsicalities.' 
A portrait of him as Clytus in ' Alexonder 
the Great ' is in the ' Theatrical Inquisitor/ 
vol. xi. 

[QenFsL's Aocount of (he Englit^h Stago ; 
Theatricid Inquisitr.r, October 1S17 ; Theatrical 
liiog.1824; Thespian Diet ; Oilwrry'uDnimatio 
Biog. 1825, vol. iii.; Em Almanack, 1872, 1873; 
Em newHpapiT, 15 Aug. 1S17; London M^. 
1821; Sir 1'. Pollock's Macready's Kcminis- 
ccncea] J. K. 

EGERTON, FRANCIS, third and last 
Duke of BEiuuBWiTBR (17.10-1803), was » 
younBersonofScroop,iir!'tdiike,by his second 
wife,LadvllaclielKiiB8ell,daughterofWrio- 
thesley, Juke of Bedford. In early boyhood 
be lost his father. His mother in the first 
year of her widowhood married Sir Riclujrd 



Egerton 



152 



Egerton 



Lyttelton of Haffley, and neglected the boy, 
who was not only sickly, but apparently of 
such feeble intellect that his exclusion from 
the succession to the dukedom was actually 
contemplated. By the death of his elder 
brother he became, however, at twelve Duke 
of Bridgewater, and at seventeen, ignorant, 
awkward, and unruly, he was sent abroad by 
his guardians to mabe the grand tour, with 
Wood, the well-known Eastern traveller and 
dissertator on Homer, as his travelling tutor. 
Wood induced his pupil to buy some marbles 
and other objects of art at Rome, but the 
young duke took so little interest in these 
matters that they remained in their packing- 
cases until after his death. On his return 
home he kept racehorses for several years, 
and occasionally rode them himself. He had 
attained his majority when he proposed to 
and was acceptea by the widowed Elizabeth, 
duchess of Ilamilton, one of the * beautiful 
Miss Gunnings.' Scandal made free with her 
sister Lady Coventry's reputation, and the 
duke insisted that after marriage the Duchess 
of Hamilton's intimacy with her should cease. 
On her refusal the duke broke off the mat<?h, 
and in his twenty-third year quitted London 
in disgust to settle on his Lancashire pro- 
perty at Old Hall, Worsley , near Manchester, 
and devote himself to the development of its 
resources. These lay mainly in the Worsley 
coal mines, the demand for the products of 
which the duke saw would be mucn increased 
by a diminution in the cost of transport to 
Manchester. Ho had obtained from parlia- 
ment TMarch 1759) an act authorising him to 
make irom Worsley to Sal ford a canal which 
was to enter the Irwell and go up its other 
bank by means of locks. A very different 
plan was urged on the duke bv James Brind- 
ley [q. v.], who in 1758 had been employed 
by the duke's brother-in-law and friend, itarl 
Gower, afterwards first Marquis of Stafford, 
in making the surveys for a canal to connect 
the Trent and the Mersey. In July 1759 
Brindley visited the duke at Old Hall, and 
persuaded him to project the construction of 
a canal from Worsley to Manchester, which 
should be carried in an aqueduct over the 
Irwell at Barton, throe miles from Worsley. 
The scheme was ridiculed, but the dute 
adopted it, and early in 1760 obtained an 
act of parliament sanctioning it. Brindloy's 
ingenuity overcame all the many difhculties 
of construction. On 17 July 1761 the first 
bdatload of coals was borne along the Barton 
aqueduct, which forthwith attracted visitors 
from all parts. This canal was the first in 
England which throughout its course was I 
entirely independent of a naturol stream ; ■ 
hence Bridgewater has been called the founder 



of British inland navigation. The price of 
the Worsley coal alone at Manchester was 
reduced through it fully one half. 

The duke and Brindley were soon engaged 
in a still more difficult enterprise, the con- 
struction of a canal from Longford Bridge to 
Runcorn, to connect Manchester and Liver- 
pool. The proprietors of the navigation of 
the Mersey and Irwell opposed the bill for 
the new canal, and were joined by some Lan- 
cashire landowners, the opposition to the bill 
in the House of Commons being led by Lord 
Strange, the son of the Earl of Derby. More- 
over, the duke and his friends being whigs, 
many tories opposed his bill, which after a 
fierce contest received the royal assent in 
March 1762. The new canal, about twenty- 
eight miles in length, was nearly thre© 
times as long as that from Worsley to Man- 
chester, and liad to be carried over streams 
and bogs, and through tunnels, presenting 
creat engineering difficulties. The financial 
difficulty taxed the duke*s pecuniary resources 
to the uttermost. He had not only to defray 
the cost of construction, which was very heavy ^ 
though Brindloy's own wages were only a 
guinea a week, but to compensate owners for 
land compulsorily acquired. He could hardly 
get a bill for 500/. cashed in Liveqwol. His 
steward had often to ride about among the 
tenantry and raise 5/. here and there to pay 
the week's wages. The duke cut down his 
own personal expenses until his establishment 
cost only 400/. a year. He would not raise 
money (m his landed property, but in 1765 
he pledged the Worsley canal, which had 
become remunerative, to Messrs. Child, the 
London bunkers, for 25,000/., and in 1767 a 
lucrative traffic was springing up on the por- 
tion of the new canal, which in tliat vear was 
finished, with the exception of the locks lead- 
ing down to the Mersey. On the last day of 
1772 these too wore opened, and a vessel of 
fifty tons burden passed through on its way to 
Liverpool. The (luke was afterwards a liberal 
promoter of the Grand Trunk Navigation, and 
his interest was alwavs at the service of any 
well-digested plan of the kind (Chalmers). 
On his own canals he had expended 220,000/. 
The annual revenue which they yielded him 
ultimately reached 80,000/. 

During the remainder of his life Bridge- 
water continued, more or less actively, to 
superintend and dovelope his collieries and 
canals. He bought up any land in the 
neighbourhood of Worsley which contained 
coal-seams, and spent nearly 170,000/. in 
forming subterranean tunnels for the ogres* 
of the coals, the underground canals which 
connected the various workings extending to 
forty miles in length. He introduced pas- 



Egerton 



IS3 



Egerton 



senger boats on his other canals, and fre- 
quently travelled by them. About 1796 he 
tried steam tugs on them, but without success. 
He was a stem, but just and good master, 
and looked well aft«r the housing of his miners, 
establishing shops and markets for them, and 
taking care that they contributed to a sick 
<\ub. His features are said to have strongly 
resembled those of George III. He was 
careless in his dress, which is described as 
'something of the cut of Dr. Johnson's.* 
TVlthin doors he was a great smoker, and out 
of doors as great a snuti-taker. He talked 
little on any subject but canals, and never 
wrote a letter when he could avoid it. He de- 
spised the ornamental, and once on his return 
from London finding that some flowers had 
been planted at Worsley, he * whipped their 
heads off, and ordered them to be rooted up.' 
The money which he devoted to the purchase 
of the magnificent Bridgewater collection of 
paintings he probably regarded simply as a 
good business investment. To avoid the ex- 
pense of a town establishment, when he visited 
London, where he had not many friends, he 
agreed with one of them to be provided for a 
stipulated sum with a daily dinner for him- 
self and a few guests. Yet he was a liberal 
donor to national and beneficent institutions, 
and when he thought his countrv to be in 
danger he subscribed 100,000/. to the Loyalty 
Loan. In politics he took no very active part, 
generally following the lead of the Marquis 
of Stafford, He never married, and would 
not allow a woman servant to wait on him. 
He died in London, after a short illness, 
8 March 1803, and was buried — his funeral 
being, according to his directions, the simplest 
possible — in the family vault at Ashridce, his 
liertfordshire seat. He has been callea * the 
first p^at Manchester man.' The dukedom 
of Bridgewater died with him. Ashridge was ' 
among his bequests to his cousin and sue- | 
censor in the earldom of Bridgewater, Ge- ■ 
neral Edward Egerton, and to his nephew, j 
the second Marquis of Stafford, afterwards 
first duke of Sutherland, he left other estates '. 
and much valuable property. His canal 
property ho devolved, under trust, to that 
nephew's second son, known successively as 
Lord Francis Leveson-Gower, as Lord Francis | 
Egerton, and ns first Earl of Ellesmere, whose 
article on aqueducts and canals, contributed 
to the 'Quarterly Review' for March 1844, 
contains a very interesting account of his 
benefactor. There is a copy of Bridge water's 
elaborate will in the Adclitional MbS., Brit. 
Mus., No. 10005. 

[History of Inland Navigation, particularly 
thoso of the Duke of Bridgewater, 1766; Lord 
Ellesmere's Essays contributed to the Quarterly 



Review, 1858; Smiles's Li res of the Engineers, 
1861, vol. i., Life of James Brindley; Francis 
Henry, Earl of Bridgewater s Letter to the Pa- 
risians. . .on Inland Navigation, containing a 
defence of . . . Francis Egerton, late Duke of 
Bridgewater (1719-50); Chalmers's Biog. Diet. ; 
F.Espinasse'sLancasliire Worthies, 1st ser. 1874.J 

F. E. 

EGERTON, FRANCIS, Earl of Elles- 
mere (1800-1857), statesman and poet, was 
bom at 21 Arlington Street, Piccadilly, Lon- 
don, on 1 Jan. 1800. He was the younger 
son of George Granville Leveson-Gower, se- 
cond marquis of Staiford, who was created 
Duke of Sutherland in 1833, the year of his 
death, by Elizabeth, countess of Sutherland, 
onlydaughter of W'illiam Gordon, seventeenth 
earl of Sutherland. Francis was at Eton from 
1811 to 1814, when he proceeded to Christ 
Church, Oxford. On Aug. 1819 he became 
a lieutenant in the Staffordshire regiment of 
yeomanry, and was promoted to a captaincy 
on 27 Sept. in the same year. He was elected 
M.P. for Bletchingley, Surrey, 19 Feb. 1822, 
and commenced his public career as a liberal- 
conservative of the Canning school. He spoke 
eloquently in behalf of free trade more than 
twenty years before Sir Robert Peel had em- 
braced that policy ; carried in the House of 
Commons a motion for the endowment of 
the catholic clergy, and warmly supported 
the project of the London Universitv. On 
26 June 1826 he became M.P. for Suther- 
landshire, was re-elected for that county in 
1830, and afterwards sat for South Lancasnire 
in the parliaments of 1836, 1837, 1841, and 
until July 1846. In the meantime he had 
held office as a lord of the treasury (April to 
September 1827), under-secretary of state for 
the colonies (January to May 1828), chief 
secretary to the Marqiiis of Anglesey, lord- 
lieutenant of Ireland (21 June 1828 to 30 July 
1830), and secretary at war (30 July to 30 Nov. 
1830). He was named a privy councillor 
28 June 1828, and a privy councillor for Ire- 
land 9 Aug. 1828. At an early age he at- 
tempted literature, and in 1823 brought out 
a poor translation of * Faust, a drama, by 
Goethe, and Schiller's song of the Bell.* On 
the death of his father in 1833 he assumed 
the surname and arms of Egerton alone^ 
24 Aug., in the place of his patronymic of 
Leveson-(jower, and under the will of his 
uncle, Francis Henry Egerton [q. v.], eighth 
earl of Br idge water, became the owner of a pro- 
perty estimated at 90,000/. per annum. At the 
commemoration at Oxford on 10 June 1834 
he was created D.C.L., named a trustee of the 
National Gallery on 26 Feb. 1836, and rector 
of King's College, Aberdeen, in October 1838. 
He spent the winter of 1839 in the East, pro- 



Egerton 



154 



Egerton 



ceeding in his own yacht to the Mediterranean 
and the Holy Land. The result of his obser- 
vations appeared in ' Mediterranean Sketches/ 
1843. A portion of his wealth was put to 
a generous use in his support of men of ge- 
nius and in his building a gallery at his town 
residence in Cleveland liow, to which the 
public were very freely admitted, for the 
magnificent collection of paintings which he 
had inherited. On 30 June 1846 he was 
created Viscount Brackley of Brackley and 
Earl of Ellesmere of Ellesmere, and on 7 Feb. 
1855 was made a knight of the Garter. He 
was president of the British Association at 
the Manchester meeting in 1842, served as 
president of the lloyal Asiatic Society in 
1849, and was president of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society 1854-5. He died at Bridge- 
water House, Ijondon, on 18 Feb. 1857, and 
was buried at Worsley, near Manchester, on 
26 Feb., where a monument, designed by G. G. 
Scott, R.A., was erected in 1860. He mar- 
ried, on 18 June 1822, Harriet Catherine, only 
daughter of Charles Greville, )jy Charlotte, 
eldest daughter of "William, third duke of 
Portland. She was born on 1 Jan. 1800 and 
died on 17 April 1866. She was the author 
or translator of: 1. * Questions on the Epis- 
tles,' parts vii. and viii., 1832. 2. * Journal 
of a Tour in the Holy Land in May and Juno 
1840, with lithographic views from original 
drawings by Lord F. Egerton,' 1841. 3. * The 
Believer's Guide to the Holy Communion, 
by J. II. Grand-Pierre ; a translation,' 1849. 
Ellesmere was the author, translator, or editor 
of the following works : 1. * Faust, a drama, by 
Goethe, and Schiller's song of the Bell,' 1823. 
2, * Translations from the German and original 
Poems,' 1824. 3.* Boyle Farm,' 1827. 4.*\Vnl- 
lenstein's Camp and original Poems,' 1830. 
5. * Dramatic Scones, founded on Victor Hugo's 
tragedy of Hemaui.' Printed in the Club Book, 
1831. 6. * Catherine of Cleves and Hemani, 
tragedies translated from the French,' 1832, 
another edit. 1854. 7. *TIie Puria, a tragedy; 
by ^I. Beer,' 1830. 8. * Alfred, a drama/ 1840. 
9. * Blue Beard, a tragedy/ 1841. 10. ' ^Me- 
diterranean Sketclies,^l 843. 11.* The Cam- 
paign of 1812 in Russia, by Charles Clause- 
witz/ 1843. 12. *The Siege of Vienna by 
•the Turks, from the German of K. A. Schim- 
mer/ 1847; new edit. 1801. 13. 'Naticmal 
Defences, letters of I^)rd Ellesmere,' 1848. 

14. * A Guide to Northern Archaeology/ 1848. 

15. * History of the War of the Sicilian Ves- 
pers, by Michael Amari/ 1850. 1(). * Mili- 
tary Events in Italy/ 1848-9; translated 
from the (lermnn, 1851. 17. *Solwan, or 
the Waters of Comfort, by Ibn Zafer,' 1852. 
18. ' On the Life and Character of the Duke 
of AVellington,' 1852 ; second edition, 1852. 



19. * History of the two Tartar Conquerors 
of China, from the French of P^re J. d'Or- 
16ans,' 1854. 20. * Addresses to the Royal 
Geographical Society of London,' 2 vols. 18o4, 
1855. 21. * The War in the Crimea, a dis- 
course,' 1855. 22. * The Pilgrimage and other 
Poems,' 1856. 23. * Essays on Ilistory, Bio- 
graphy, Geography, Engineering,' &c., con- 
tributed to the * Quarterly Review,' 1858. 




Some of these works were privately printed, 
and others after publication were withdrawn 
from circulation. His version of Alexandre 
Dumas' tragedy, * Henri III et sa Cour/ 
entitled ' Catherine of Cleves,' was performed 
with much success at Covent Garden, Charles 
Kemble and his daughter Fanny appearing 
in the piece. 

[Gent. Mjig. March 1857, p. 358 ; Illustrated 
Loudon News, 24 Jan. 1846, p. 60, Triih portrait, 
21 Feb. 1857, p. 160, and 16 Dec. 1860. pp. 563, 
668; Times, 19 Fob. 1857, p. 9, and 27 Feb., 
p. 10 ; Frascr's Mag. July 1835, p. 43, with por- 
trait; Bates's Maclise Portrait Gallery (1883), 
pp. 323-5, with portrait; Doyle's Official Ba- 
ronage, i. 079, with portrait ; J. Evans's Lanca- 
shire Authors (1850), pp. 85-8; Quarterly Jour- 
nal Geological Soc. of London, xi?. pp. xlv-xlvii 
(1858) ; Proceedings Royal Googrjjphical Society 
of London, 25 May 1857, pp. 377-83; St. Vin- 
cent Beechy's Sermons on Death of Eiirl of Elles- 
mere (1857).] G. C. B. 

EGERTON, FRANCIS HENRY, eighth 
Earl of Bridgewateu (1756-1829), founder 
of the * Bridgewater Treatises/ younger son of 
John Egerton, bishop of Durham [q. v.], by 
Lady Anne Sophia Grey, daughter ot Henry, 
duke of Kent, was born in London on 11 Nov. 
1756, and educated at Eton and at Christ 
Church and All Souls' College, Oxford. He 
matriculated at Christ Church on 27 March 
1773, proceeded B.A. on 23 Oct. 1776, and 
M.A. on 24 May 1780. In 1780, also, ho was 
elected fellow of All Souls, and appointed 
(30 Nov.) prebendary' of Durham. In the 
following year he was presented by the Duke 
of Bridgewater to the rectory of Middle, and 
in 1797 to that of Whitchurch, both in Shro})- 
shire. He retained the preferments till his 
death, but for many years their duties were 
performed by proxy. He was elected F.R.S. 
in 1781 and F.S.A. in 1791, and was a prince 
j of the Holy Roman Empire. In January 
I 1808 he and his sister Amelia were raised to 
the rank of earl's cliildren, and on 21 Oct. 
I 1823 he succeeded his brother John "William 
; as Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackley, 
and Baron Ellesmere. 
He was a good scholar, a loyer of litera- 



Egerton 



^ss 



Egerton 



ture and antiquities, and a patron of learning, 
but was withal a man of great eccentricity. 
fie lived for many of his later years at Paris, 
in a mansion he called the Hotel Egerton, 
in Kue St. Honor4. His house was filled 
with cats and dogs, some of which were 
dressed up as men and women, and were 
driven out in his carriage, and fed at his 
table. In his last feeble days he stocked his 
garden with large numbers of rabbits, and 
with pigeons and partridges with clipped 
wings, in order to enjoy the 'sport* of killing 
a few heads of game for his table. 

His literary works were chiefly printed for 
private circulation. From some of them it 
IS evident that he regarded his ancestry with 
the greatest pride, while they also show that 
he lived in unhappy discord with his con- 
temporarv relations. He printed the follow- 
ing: 1. * Life of lliomas Egerton, J^ord High 
Chancellor of England ' (reprinted from vol. v. 
of Kippis's * Biographia }5ritAnnica *), 1793, 
20 pages, enlarged to 57 pages 1798, further 
enlarged to 91 pages 1801, lol., again in 1812 
(Paris, fol.), and finally in 1816 (Paris, 4to). 
The last contains voluminous im|)ortant let- 
ters and historical documents, which have, 
however, no bearing whatever on the life of 
Egerton, and are printed without order or 
method. It was printed to p. C2 by Mamo 
in 1816, and as far as p. 508 by other printers, 
but was never completed. 2. * Life of John 
Egerton, Bishop ot Durham.' Contributed 
to Hutchinson's * Durham,' vol. iii., 1794, and 
reprinted several times subsequently, with 
portrait. 3. * Eupcircdov *l7r7roXvror Sre^avi;- 
<f}6pos cum Scholiis,' Oxford, 179(^, 4to. 4. * De- 
scription of the Inclined Plane executed by 
Francis Egerton,third Duke of Bridgewater, at 
"Walkden jloor,' originally printed in * Trans. 
Soc. of Arts,* afterwards in a French transla- 
tion, 1803, and in other langruages. 5. * Aper^u 
Ilistorique et G6n6alogique ' (on the Eger- 
ton familv, bv F. HargraA'e, dated 1807), 
Paris, 4to; and 1817, 8vo. 6. ' John Bull ' 
(an anonymous political pamphlet), Lond. 
1808, 8vo. 7. * Character of Francis Egerton, 
third Duke of Bridgewater,' Lond. 1809, 4to, 
reprinted at Paris, with portrait. 8. Transla- 
tion of Milton's* Comus'inltalian and French, 
with notes, Paris, 1812, 4to. 9. *Lettre In6- 
dite de la Seigneurie de Florence au Pape 
Sixte IV, 21 Juillet 1478' (with notes), Paris, 
1814, 4to, and 1817, 8vo. 10. * A Fragment 
of an Ode of Sappho, from Longinus ; also 
an Ode of Sappho Irom Dionysius Halicarn.,' 
Paris, 1815, 8vo. 11. * Extrait avec addi- 
tions du No. 44 du Monthly Repertory,' Paris, 
n. d., 8vo ; also 181 7. 12. * Four Letters from 
Spa in Mav 1819, to John William Egerton, 
Larl of Bridgewater/ lx)nd.| dvo. 13. Letters 



(about seven) to the same in 1820 and 1821, 
Lond. 8vo. 14. * A Letter to the Parisians 
and the French Nation upon Inland Navi- 
gation, containing a Defence of the Public 
Character of his Grace Francis Egerton, 
late Duke of Bridgewater, and including 
some notices and anecdotes concerning Mr. 
James Brindley,' Paris, 1819. Also the se- 
cond part, Paris, 1 820, 8vo. There is a French 
translation. A third part was printed, but 
not circulated. 15. *Note C, indicated at 

S. 113 in the Third Part, of a I-ietter on Inland 
Tavigation,' Paris (1823 .^), 8vo, being obser- 
vations on the liook of Job, &c. 10. * Num- 
bers ix. X. xi. xii. xiii. of Addenda and Corri- 
genda to the Edition of the Hippolytus Ste- 
plian6phorus of Euripides,' Paris, 1822, 4to. 
These notes, which are printed in a most ec- 
centric manner, have little or no relation to 
the text. 17. *An Address to the People 
of Enffland,' Paris, 1826, 8vo. 18. ' Famdy 
Anecdotes,' Paris, 4to and 8vo. Extracts 
from this book are given in the * Literary 
Gazette,' 1827. 19. A catalogue (of hia 
printed and manuscript works), Pans, 4to. 
20. * A Treatise on Natural Theology/ printed 
by Didot, Paris, but not finished. He issued 
a series oif engraved plans of his Paris house, 
and several portraits of members of his family, 
one of which is inscribed * Sophia Egerton, 
natural daughter of Francis Henry Egerton, 
Earl of Bridgewater, educated at Mme. Cam- 



.»., » 



pans. 

He died unmarried at his residence in Paris 
on 11 Feb. 1829, aged 72; and his remains 
were brought to England and buried at Little 
Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, near the family 
seat, Ashridge. With him died all his titles. 

By his will, dated 25 Feb. 1825, he be- 
queathed 8,000/. for the best work on * The 
Goodness of God as manifested in the Crea- 
tion.' The disposal of this money was left 
to the president of the Royal Society, who 
divided it among eight jjersons — Dr. Chal- 
mers, Dr. Kidd, Dr. Whewell, Sir C. Bell, 
P. M. Roget, Dean Buckland, Bev. AV. Kirby, 
and Dr. Prout — as authors of eight essays, 
since known as the * Bridgewater Treatises.' 

His valuable collection of manuscripts and 
autographs he left to the liritisii Museum, 
with a sum of 12,000/., of which the interest 
was partly for the custodian and ])artly for 
the augmentation of the collection. The 
'Egerton Manuscripts,' as they are called, 
relate chiefly to the historj'and littTature of 
France and Italv. The funds of the coUec- 
tion were increased in 1838 by Lord Fam- 
borough. 

[Gent. Mag. 1829, vol. xcix.pt. i. p. 558; Ed- 
urards's Founders of the ]{rit. Mas. 1870, p. 446; 
Complete Peerage, by G. £. C. (i.e. Coknyoo), p. 23 



Egerton 



is6 



Egerton 



in the Genealogist, April 1887; Do}Ie*8 Official 
Baronage, i. 230 ; Sims's Handbook to the Brit. 
Mus. p. 47 ; Le Neve*s Fasti (Hardj), iii. 312; 
Cat. of Oxford Graduates ; Cussans's Hertford- 
shire, Hundred of Dracorum, p. 140 ; Querard's 
La France Litt^raire, iii. 11, vi. 146 ; Allibone's 
Diet, of Authors, i. 245 ; Brit. Mus. CatJ 

c. w. s. 

EGERTON, JOHN, first Earl of Bridge- 
water (1579-1649), bom in 1679, was the 
second but only surviving son of Sir Thomas 
Eperton, lord Ellesmere [q. v.], by his first 
wife, Elizabeth, daughter ot Thomas Ravens- 
croft, esq., of Bretton, Flintshire. He went 
to Ireland in Essex*s expedition of 1599 
with his elder brother Thomas, who was 
killed there. He was baron of the exche- 
quer of Chester from 25 Feb. 1598-9 till 
21 Feb. 1604-6 in succession to his brother, 
and was M.P. for Shropshire in 1601. His 
father*s position at Elizabeth's court caused 
the young man to be made a knight of the 
Bath on James I's arrival in England 
(24 July 1603), and he went to Oxford with 
the royal party in 1605, when he received 
the honorary deffree of M.A. His fatlier's 
letters suggest tnat he was seriously ill in 
1603 and permanently lame {Egerton Papers, 
pp. 362, 366). On his father's death, 15 >larch 
1616-17, he became second Viscount Brack- 
ley, and on 27 May following was promoted 
to the earldom of firidgewater in accordance 
with James I's promise to his father. Buck- 
ingham is reported to have extorted 20,000/. 
from the new earl as the price of the honour. 
About the same time he became a member 
of the council of Wales. He married Frances 
Stanley, daugliter and coheiress of Ferdi- 
nando, earl of Derby. The lady's mother was 
his father's third wife. Bridgewater and his 
wife lived at Asliridge in the parish of Little 
Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, about sixteen miles 
from his father's house at llarefield, where his 
stepmother, who was also liis wife's mother, 
long resided after her husband's death. About 
1634 the earl's children took part in the first 
performance of Milton's * Arcodes' at Hare- 
field. Bridgewater became a privy coimcillor 
on 4 July 1026, and on 20 June 1031 was 
nominated president of the council of Wales, 
with an ofiicial residence at Ludlow Castle, 
Shropshire. He became lord-lieutenant of 
the counties on the Welsh border and of 
North and South Wales 8 July 1631. Bridge- 
water first went to W'ales on 12 Mav 1(J33, 
and it was not till the autumn of the next 
year that he made his public entrance into the 
Principality. Great festivities were held at 
Ludlow, where an elaborate series of instruc- 
tions was signed by Charles I at Theobald's 
(Rtmer, Fasdera, xix. 449-65). Milton's 



* Comus ' was written for the occasion, and 
was first acted at Ludlow Castle 29 Sept. 
1634 by the earl's children [see Egerton, 
John, second Earl of Bridgewater] . Many 
of the earl's ofiicial letters written in Wales 
are preserved in the Record Office. 

Bridgewater lived a very retired life after 
the civil wars broke out. He was joint- 
commissioner of array for Flintshire, Denbigh- 
shire, and Merionethshire in May 1643, but 
soon afterwards withdrew to his house at 
Ashridge, where he died on 4 Dec. 1649. He 
was buried in the neighbouring church of 
Little Gaddesden, where a laudatory inscrip- 
tion records numberless virtues. 

Bridgewater had literary tastes and im- 
proved the library left him by his father. 
One R. C. dedicated to him, in an elaborate 

S)em, a translation of Seneca (Lond. 1G35). 
ridgewater's autograph is reproduced in 
Collier's * Bridgewater Catalogue,' p. 322, 
from a copy in the Bridgewater Librarv of 
John Vicars 8 ' Babel's Balm ' (1624), which 
is also dedicated to Bridgewater. 

By his wife, Frances, daughter and co- 
heiress of F'erdinando Stanlev, earl of Derbv, 
Bridgewater had four sons and elei'en daugh- 
ters. Two sons, James and Charles, died 
young, and two, John [q. v.] and Charles, 
survived him. Of his daughters, one named 
Alice and another Anne died young, and 
Cecilia did not marry. I^rances was wife of 
Sir John Hobart of Blickling, Norfolk ; Ara- 
bella married Oliver, lord St. John, son of 
the Earl of Bolingbroke ; Elizabeth married 
David, son of Sir Richard Cecil ; Mary mar- 
ried Richard, son of Edward, lord Herbert of 
Cherbury ; Penelope married Sir Robert Napier 
of Luton ; Catherine was wife of William, 
son of Sir William Courten [q. v.] ; Magdalen 
married Sir Gervase Cutler, and Alice Ri- 
chard Vaughan, earl of Carberry. The Coun- 
tess of Bridgewater died 11 March 1635-6. 

[Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 416; Collins's Peer- 
age, ii. 232-5 ; Doyle's Baronage, i. 224-6 ; Mas- 
son's Life of Milton, i. 652 et seq. ; Gardiner's 
Hist, of England ; Egerton Papers (Camd. 
Soc), 1840; Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire ; R. H. 
C[live]'8 Documents connected with the History 
of Ludlow and the Lords Marchers (1841), pp. 
182-3 ; Cal. State Papers (Dom.) 1633-43,] 

l9. Ju. JLtm 

EGERTON, JOHN, second Earl of 
Bridgwater (16:^2-1686), was the third but 
eldest surviving son of the first earl [q. v.] At 
: the age of twelve, when Viscount Brackley, 
he and his younger brother, Mr. Thomas 
Egerton, were among the * ten young lords 
and noblemen's sons* associated with the 
king himself in the performance of Carew** 
masque, ' Coelum Britannicum/ 18 Feb. 1634 



Egerton 



157 



Egerton 



(Wakton, p. 114; Masson, i. 560-1). When 
in the same year, as Professor Masson sup- 
poses, Milton's 'Arcades' was 'presentea' 
to the Countess Dowager of Derby, Lady 
Bridgewater's mother, at Harefield, some 
sixteen miles from Ashridgei Lord Bridge- 
water's Hertfordshire seat and country house, 
Brackley and his brother were probably 
O\'ART0y, ib, ; Masson, i. 562 ; Todd, v. 164) 
among the * some noble persons of her famil3r ' 
who sang and spoke Milton's words to their 
grandmother, the Dowager Lady Derby. His 
sisters were pupils of Henry Lawes [q. v.], 
who is supposed to have written what little 
music was required for the * Arcades.' Un- 
doubtedly Brackley represented the Elder 
Brother, Mr. Thomas Egerton the Second 
Brother, and their sister, Lady Alice Egerton, 
The Lady in * Comus,' which, with Lawes as 
the Attendant Spirit, was performed in the 
great hall of Ludlow Castle on Michaelmas 
night 1634. * A manuscript of Oldys ' isWar- 
ton's sole authority (p. 183 n.) for the well- 
known st atement in wnich the plot of* Comus ' 
is described as suggested by the incident that 
Brackley with his brother and sister had been 
benighted in a wood near Harefield, their 
grandmother's house. The first edition of 
* Comus,' published in 1637, without the 
author's name, was dedicated by Lawes to 
Bracklev. 

In 1642 Brackley married Elizabeth, 
daughter of "William, then Earl, afterwards 
Marquis and Duke of Newcastle, a very de- 
vout lady, to whom he seems to have been 
always passionately attached. In 1649 he 
succeeded his father as Earl of Bridgewater. 
As a royalist, suspected of conspiring against 
the Commonwealth, he was arrested, impri- 
soned, and examined in April 1651, but was 
soon released on bail, giving his own bond 
for 10,000/. and finding two sureties in 6,000/. 
to appear before the council of state when 
called on, and * not to do anything prejudi- 
cial to the present government' {Cal, State 
Papers, Dom. 1651, p. 162). In the same 
year was issued Milton's * Pro populo Angli- 
cano Defensio.' Bridjjewater possessed a 
copy of it, on the title-page of which he 
wrote the words * Liber igne, author furca 
dignissimi ' (ToDD, i. 127 w.) Afler the Re- 
storation he was appointed in 1662, with 
Clarendon and the Bishop of London, to 
manage the conference between the two 
houses upon the Act of Uniformity. On 
14 May 1663 he was chosen high steward of 
Oxford University, which the same day con- 
ferred on him the degree of M.A. In the 
following month, Bridgewater having ac- 
cepted a challenge from the Earl of Middle- 
sex, both of them were ordered into cus- 



tody, when he was joined bv his wife, who 
before he was liberated died in childbed, a 
loss from which, according to his epitaph on 
her, he never recovered. On 13 Feb. 1666 
he was sworn of the pri\'y council, and in 
1667 he was appointed one of the commis- 
sioners to inquire into the expenditure of 
the money voted by parliament lor the Dutch 
war, and in 1672 he was elected high stew- 
ard of Wycombe. In 1673 Milton issued 
the second edition of his minor poems, in 
which for obvious reasons he did not reprint 
Lawes's dedication of * Comus ' to the Vis- 
count Brackley of 1637. In the House of 
Peers Bridgewater seems to have generally 
acted with the country party. In 1679 he 
was sworn of the new privy council, con- 
sisting of members of both the court and 
country parties, appointed at Sir William 
Temple's suggestion. He died 26 Oct. 1686, 
and was buried in the church of Little Gad- 
desden. Sir Henry Chauncy, the historian 
of Hertfordshire, who knew him, describes 
him as * adorned with a modest and grave 
aspect, a sweet and pleasant countenance, a 
comely presence,' as * a learned man ' who 

* delighted much in his library,' and further 
as possessed of all the virtues. He is said 
to have been a liberal patron of works of 
learning, and among them of Pole's 'Synopsis 
Critica.' In Todd's * Ashridge ' is printed a 
series of instructions drawn up by the earl 
for the management of his household, which 
is interesting from its detailed account of 
the organisation of an English nobleman's 
establishment in the second half of the seven- 
teenth century. No. 607 of the Egerton MSS., 
Brit. Mus., is a transcript of his wife's prayers 
and meditations, with his autograph note, 

* Examined by J. Bridgewater.' 

[H. J. Todd*8 third edition of Milton's Poeti- 
cal Works. 1826, vol. i. ; Some Account of the 
Life and Writings of Milton, and v. 209, &c., 
Preliminary Notes on Comus; Thomas Warton's 
edition of Milton's Minor Poems, 1785; Mas- 
son's Life of Milton, 1869; Todd's Hist, of the 
College of Bonhommes at Ashridge, 1823; Sir 
Henry Channcy's Historical Antiquities of Hert- 
fordshire, 1700.] F. E. 

EGERTON, JOHX, third Eabl op 
Bridgewater (1646-1701), was the eldest 
surviving son of the second earl [q. v.], by his 
wife, the Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter 
of the first Duke of Newcastle. Bom 9 Nov. 
1646, he was made one of the knights of the 
Bath at the coronation of Charles II ; and 
in the parliament called by James II he was 
returned as one of the knights for Bucking- 
hamshire, sitting by his courtesy title of 
Viscount Brackley. In 1686 he succeeded 
his father in the peerage^ and in the follow<- 



Egerton 



158 



Egerton 



ing year King James removed him from the 
lord-lieutenancy of Buckinghamshire, as he 
vfaa then counted among the disaffected 
peers. At the Revolution of 1688 Bridge- 
water concurred in the vote of the House of 
Lords for settling the crown on the Prince 
and Princess of Orange. Upon his accession 
William III reconstituted the earl lord- 
lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. He was 
also sworn a member of the privy council, 
and appointed first commissioner of trade 
and tlie plantations. In March 1694-6 
Bridgewater bore one of the banners of Eng- 
land and France at the funeral of Queen 
Mary. On 81 May 1699 he was nominated 
first commissioner for executing the office of 
lord high admiral of England ; and on 1 June 
following he was appointed one of the lords 
justices of the kingdom during the kings 
absence bevond the seas, being subsequently 
confirmed in the office. Bridgewater was a 
man of excellent character, and well proved 
in the public business. He presided in the 
House of Lords, during the absence of Lord- 
chancellor Somers, on the occasion of the im- 
portant debates on the liesumption Bill. On 
several occasions he prorogued parliament at 
the command of the king. He stood high in 
Ids sovereign's confidence, and died during 
his tenure of office as first lord of the admi- 
ralty, 19 March 1700-1. He was much la- 
mented as * a just and good man, a faithful 
friend, and a wise counsellor.* He married 
first, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of 
Middlesex (who died in 1 670) ; and secondly, 
Jane, eldest daughter of the Duke of Bolton. 
He was succeeded in the earldom bv his third I 
son. Scroop Egerton, who, after holding ini- ■ 
portant posts in the state, was created Duke ^ 
of Bridgewater, 18 June 1720. It was this | 
duke who first conceived the idea of the great | 
Bridgewater canal, and he obtained the first ' 
of the acts for putting the project in force, i 

[CoUins's Pcerajre cf England, ed. Brydges, 
vol. iii., 1812; Macaulay's Hist, of Knglnnd, 
vol. v.] G. B. S. 

EGERTON, JOHN (1721-1787), bishop 
of Durham, son of Henry Egerton, bishop of 
Hereford, l)y Lady Elizabeth Ariana Ben- 
tinck, daughter of the Earl of Portland, was , 
born in London on 30 Nov. 1721, and edu- 
cated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford, 
where he was admitted a gentleman com- " 
moner on 20 May 1740. He was ordained 
deacon and priest by Hoadly, bishop of Win- 
chester, on 21 and 22 Dec. 1745, and on the , 
2drd of the stime month was collated by his 
father to the rectory of Koss, Herefordshire, 
and on 3 Jan. following to the prebend of 
Cublington in Hereford Cathedral He took 



the degree of B.C.L. at Oxford on 30 May 
1746, was appointed king's chaplain 19 March 
1749, and dean of Hereford 24 July 1760. 
On 4 July 1766 he was consecrated bishop 
of Bangor, having previously received the 
degree of D.C.L. He continued to hold, in 
commendanif the rectory of Ross and the 
prebend of Cublington. He was translated to 
the see of Lichfield and Coventry on 12 Oct. 
1768, and a few days afterwards was admitted 
to the prebend of Wildland, and a residen- 
tiaryship in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. 
On 8 July 1771 he succeeded Dr. Trevor as 
bishop of Durham. He had previously de- 
clinea the primacy of Ireland. At Durham 
he displayed much address and talent for con- 
ciliation in promoting the peace and prospe- 
rity of the palatinate. He restored harmony 
in the county, which had been divided by 
elections, and in the city, which had been 
torn to pieces by disputes. In the discharge 
of his episcopal functions ho was diligent, 
conscientious, just, and di^ified; und in pri- 
vate life was amiable, hospitable, and scholar- 
like. He was a great benefactor to the 
county by encouraging public works. He 
promoted the enclosure of Walling Fen in 
Ilowdenshire ; assisted materiallv in rebuild- 
ing a bridge over the Tyne between New- 
castle and Gateshead, and in 1780 granted a 
new charter, restoring ancient and allbrding 
new privileges, to the city of Durham. He 
also obtained acts of parliament to relieve a 
large body of copyholders at Lanchester, 
Hamsteel Fell, and in the manor of How- 
densliire, from certain onerous dues. He 
made extensive improvements at the episco- 
pal palaces, and was a liberal supporter of 
many religious and educational institutions. 

His first wife was LadyAnne Sophia, daugh- 
ter of Henry de Grey, duke of Kent, whom 
he married on 21 Nov. 1748, and who died in 
1780. By her he had issue a daughter and 
three sons. The first son died in infancy, 
and the others, John William and Francis 
Henry [q. v.], both succeeded to the earldom 
of Bridgewater. He married secondly, on 
31 March 1782, Mary, sister of Sir Edward 
Boughton, hart. 

His only publications were three singlo 
sermons, 17oi , 1761, and 1703. He died at 
his house in Grosvenor Scjuare, London, on 
18 Jan. 1787, and was buried in St. James's 
Church. 

[Memoir by his son, H. F. EgtTton,in Hutchin- 
son's Hist, of Durham, vol. iii., the sanio subse- 
quently rcprintetl by the author ; Collins 's Peer- 
npe (Brj'dges), 1812, iii. 217; Chalmers's Biog. 
Diet. xiii. 82 ; Surtces's Hist, of Durham, i. 
exxiii; Le Neve's Fasti (Hardy); Nichols's 11- 
lustr. of Lit. i. 456 ; Burke's Patrician, i. 274 



Egerton 



IS9 



Egerton 



(nrhere a carious circumstaDce connected urith the , 
registration of the bishop's first marriage is nar- 
rated) ; Brit. Mns. Cat. of Printed Books, sub 
nom. ; Evans's Cat. of Portraits, i. HI.] 

c. w. s. 

EGERTON, Sir PHILIP db MALPAS 
GREY- (1806-1881), palaeontologist, the 
eldest son of the Rev. Sir Philip Grey-Egcr- 
ton, ninth baronet, of Oulton Park, Tarnorley, 
Cheshire, was bom on 13 Nov. 1806. He was 
educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Ox- 
ford, where he graduated B.A. in 1828. 
"While an undergraduate Egerton was at^ 
tracted to geology, which he studied under 
Buckland and Conybeare ; and in conjunction 
with his college friend Viscount Cole (after- 
wards Earl of Enniskillen) he devoted himself 
to the collection of fossil fishes. The friends 
travelled together over Germany, Switzer- 
land, and Italy in pursuit of this object, and 
accumulated many specimens of unique value. 
In 1830 Egerton was elected member of par- 
liament for Chester as a tory. He unsuc- 
cessfully contested the southern division of 
the county in 1832, but was successful in 
1835, and continuously represented the divi- 
sion until 1868, when he was elected for West 
Cheshire, which he represented till his death. 
While sedulously discharging his duties as a 
member, especially on committees, he never 
ceased to add to his collection of fossil fishes. 
Many, of the fishes described in Agassiz's 
groat monographs, and in the ' Decades of the 
Geological Survey of Great Britain,* belonged 
to the Egerton collection. Egerton himself 
contributed the descriptions in the sixth, 
eighth, and ninth * Decades.' He was elected 
fellow of the Geological Society in 1829, and 
of the Royal Society in 1831, an<i was awarded 
theWollaston medal of the Geological Societ v 
in 1873. In 1879 the Chester Society of 
Natural Science gave Egerton the first Kings- 
ley medal for his services to the society and 
to the literature and history of the county. 
He served science assiduously for many years 
as a member of the councils of the Royal and 
Geological societies, a trustee of the "British 
Museum and of the Royal College of Sur- 
geons, and as a member of the senate of the 
university of London. He died in London 
on 5 April 1881, after a verv brief illness. 
He married in 1832 Anna Elizabeth, the 
second daughter of Mr. G. J. Legh of High 
Legh, Cheshire, by whom he left two sons 
and two daughters. His elder son, Philip le 
lV4ward, succeeded to the baronetcy. Lady 
Egerton died in 1882. Egerton's funeral 
was, by his own request, extremely simple, 
and after expressing liis wishes he concluded 
his instructions thus : * I trust in God's 
mercy, through Jesus Christ, that the occa- 



sion may be one of rejoicing rather than of 
mourning.* 

Egerton was not merely a collector but a 
careful scientific observer, and a good natu- 
ralist. He had also great business ability 
and good judgment, and was of a genial and 
kindly disposition, which made him very 
popular with political opponents. His col- 
lection of fossil fishes, as well as that of Lord 
Enniskillen, has been acquired for the British 
Museum of Natural History, South Kensing- 
ton. 

Egerton published several catalogues of 
his collection of fossil fishes. A catalogue 
published in 1837 was in quarto, and includes 
references to the published figures and de- 
scriptions. In 1871 an octavo catalogue was 
published entitled * Ali)habetical Catalogue 
of Type Specimens of Fossil Fishes.* Egerton 
also edited several memoirs published by the 
Camden Society (vols, xxxix.andxl.) and the 
Chetham Society (vol. Ixxxiii.), and also pub- 
lished ' Papers relating to Elections of Knights 
of the Shire for the Count v Palatine of Ches- 
ter, from the Death of Oliver Cromwell to 
the Accession of Queen Anne,' Chester, 1852, 
and * A Short Account of the Possessors of 
Oulton, from the Acquisition of the Pro- 
perty by Marriage with the Done, until the 
Accession to the Baronetcy on the Death 
of Thomas, first Earl of Wilton,' London, 
1869, 4to, for private distribution. 

Over eighty memoirs or short papers, chiefly 
relating to fossil fishes, were contributed by 
Egerton to the * Transactions,' 'Proceedings,^ 
and * Journal of the Geological Society ' and 
other scientific journals, from 1833 onwards; 
a list of them will be found in the * Royal 
Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers.' 

[Chester Chronicle, 9 April 1881 ; Nature, 
21 April 1881: Quarterly Journal of tho Geo- 
logical Soc., 1882, xxxviii. 46-8; Proc. Eoyal 
Society, xxxiii. 1882, xxii-iv.] G. T. B. 

EGERTON, SARAH (1782-1847), ac- 
tress, was the daughter of the Rev. Peter 
Fisher, rector of Little Torrington, Devon- 
shire. After the death (1803) of her father 
she took to the stage, appearing at the Bath 
theatre on 3 Dec. 1803 as Emma in 'The 
Marriage Promise ' of John Till Allingham. 
Here she remained for six or seven years^ 
playing as a rule secondary characters. Her 
last benefit at Bath took place on 21 March 
1809, when she played Gunilda in Dimond's 
'IlerooftheNortli'andEmmelineinllawkes- 
worth's * l^^dgar and Emmeline.' She probably 
married Daniel Egerton [q. v.] soon after- 
wards. He was playing leading business in 
Bath. Her first recorded appearance as Mrs. 
Egerton was at Birmingham in 1810. On 



Egerton 



1 60 



Egerton 



25 Feb. 1811, as Mrs. Egerton from Birming- 
ham, she played Juliet at Coven t Garden with 
no very conspicuous success. Marcia in * Cato,* 
Luciana in * Comedy of Errors/ Emilia in 

* Othello ' followed during the same season. 
She could not struggle against the formidable 
opposition of Mrs. Siddons and subseauentlv 
of Miss O'Neill, and it was not until sne took 
to melodrama that her position was assured. 
In the * Miller and his Men * by Pocock she 
was (21 Oct. 1 81 3) the original Ravina. Again 
she relapsed into obscurity, from which, in 
adaptations from the 'Waverley Novels,* 
she permanentW issued. * Guy Mannering, 
or the Gipsy's Prophecy/ by Daniel Terry, 
was produced at Co vent Garden on 12 March 
181 6. John Emerj' [q. v.] was originally cast 
for Meg Merrilies," but refused x)ositively to 
take the part. Under these circumstances 
the management turned almost in despair to 
Mrs. Egerton, whose success proved to be 
conspicuous. Helen Macgregor in Pocock's 
"* Rob Roy Macgregor, or Auld Lang Syne,* 
1 2 March 181 8, followed. Her services having 
been dispensed with at Co vent Garden, she 
played (13 Jan. 1819), at the Surrey, Madge 
wildfire in Thomas Dibdin's * The'Heart- of 
Midlothian, or the Lily of St. Leonard's,* 
and subsequently Young No^^'al in Home's 
^ Douglas/ played as a melodrama. In 1819- 
1820 she appeared at Drury Lane, then under 
Elliston's management, as Meg Merrilies, 
playing during this and the following sea- 
sons in tragedy and melodrama and even 
in comedy. She was the Queen to Kean's 
Hamlet, and appeared as Clementina Allspice 
in * The AVuy to get Married/ Volumnia in 

* Coriolanus,' Jane de Montfort in the altera- 
tion of Joanna Baillie's^DeMontfort,' brought 
forward for Kean 27 Nov. 1821, Alicia in 
-'Jane Shore/ and many other characters. 
"NVhen, in 1821, her husband took Sadler's 
"NVells, she appeared with conspicuous suc- 
cess as Joan of Arc in Fitzball's drama of 
that name. Subsequently she played in me- 
lodrama at the Olympic, also under her hus- 
band's management. Soon after Egerton's 
death in 1835 she retired from the stage, ac- 
cepting a pension from the Covcnt Garden 
Fund. She died at Chelsea on 3 Aug. 1847, 
and was buried on 7 Aug. in Chelsea church- 
yard. A third-rate actress in tragedy, she 
approached the first rank in melodrama. Mac- 
ready {BeminiacenceSy i. 125) says 'her merits 
ivere confined to melodrama.* 

[Books cited ; Genest's Account of the Stage ; 
IVIrs. Baron Wilson's Our Actresses ; New Monthly 
Mag.; Theatrical Bioff. 1824; Thomas Dibdin'a 
Heminisccnces: EraAlmanack, 1871, 1873; Era 
newspaper, 15 Aug. 1847; Theatrical Inquisitor, 
Tarious years.] J. E. 



EGERTON, STEPHEN (155r)?-1621 ?), 
puritan divine, was bom in London about 
1555. He became a member of St. Peter's 
College, Cambridge, and earned so great a 
reputation for learning that a fellowship was 
only denied him on account of the poverty 
of his college. He took the M. A. degree in 
1579, and on 9 July 1583 was incorporated 
at Oxford. He had already taken orders and 
attached himself to the puritan party, being 
one of the leaders in tne formation of the 
presbytery at Wandsworth, Surrey, which 
nas been described as the first presbyterian 
church in England. In 1584 he was sus- 
pended for refusing to subscribe to Whitgift's 
articles, but he does not appear to have re- 
mained long under censure, lor shortly after- 
wards he was active in promoting the * Book 
of Discipline,' and waa one of those nomi- 
nated by the puritan synod to superintend 
the proper performance of its art ides. During 
the imprisonment of Barrow and Greenwood 
in 1590 Egerton was sent by the Bishop of 
London to confer with them, and several 
letters passed between him and them ; but 
later in the same year he himself was sum- 
moned, together with several other ministers, 
before the high commission, and was com- 
mitted to the Fleet prison, where he remained 
about three years. In 1598 he l>ecame 
minister of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, liondon. 
He was one of those chosen to present the 
millenary petition for the further reform of 
the church in 1603, and in May of the fol- 
lowing year he introduced a petition to the 
lower house of convocation for the reforma- 
tion of the prayer-book. He remained in his 
cure at Blackfriars till his death, which took 
place about 1021, being assisted in his latter 
vears by William Googe, who succeeded him. 
lie was described by Dr. Nowell, in a letter, 
as a * man of great learning and godliness.' 

I'Igorton published several sermons, few of 
which remain. Chief among those of his 
works still extant are * A Brief Method of 
Catechising,' first issued in 1594, which in 
1644 reached a forty-fourth edition; and 
a translation from the French of Matthew 
Virel entitled 'A Learned and Excellent 
Treatise containing all principal Grounds of 
the Christian Religion, the earliest edition 
of which now remaining is the fourth, pub- 
lished in 1597, and the latest the fourteenth 
in 1 035. Egerton's preface to this book con- 
tains some well-chosen and sensible remarks 
on the choice of reading. In addition to his 
own books he wrote introductions for several 
publications by his fellow-puritans, including 
Rogers, Pricke, Baine, and Byfield. 

S3rook*8 Lives of the Puritans, ii. 289 ; Wood's 
eDtt Oxon. ed. Bliss, i. 224 ; Strype's Annals 



Egerton 



i6i 



Egerton 



of the Reformation, iL pt. ii. 198, iii. pt. i. 691, 
iv. 553 ; Newcoart^s Report. Eccl. Lond. i. 915 ; 
Wilfion*8 Hist, of Dissen ting Churches, i. 11.] 

A.V. 

EGERTON, Sib THOMAS, Baron El- 
LE8XEBE and Viscount Bbacxjley (1640?- 
1617), lord chancellor, bom about 1540, was 
the natural son of Sir Richard Egerton of 
Ridley, Cheshire, by one Alice Sparke. His 
father^s family claimed descent ^om Robert 
Fitzhu^h, baron of Malpas, a contemporary 
of William I. He is stated to have become 
a commoner of Brasenose College, Oxford, in 
1556, but his name is absent from the matri- 
culation register. He entered Lincoln's Inn 
three years later ; was called to the bar in 
1572; quickly acquired a large practice in 
the chancery courts, and was rapidly pro- 
moted. In 1580 he was governor of his mn, 
in 1582 Lent reader, and in 1587 treasurer. 
He became solicitor-general on 26 June 1581, 
and attorney-general on 2 June 1592. He 
was knighted at the close of 1593, and was 
appointed chamberlain of Chester. It is 
stated that the queen conferred the solicitor- 
ship after hearing him plead in a case in 
which he opposed the crown. * In my troth,' 
she is said to have exclaimed, * he shall never 
plead against me again.' He conducted the 
prosecutions of Campion in 1581, of Davison 
m 1587, of the Earl of Arundel in 1589, and 
of Sir John Perrot in 1592. On 10 April 
1594 Egerton was promoted to the bench as 
master of the rolls, and after Sir John Puck- 
ering's death he became lord keeper on 6 May 
1596. The last promotion, like the first, was 
conferred on him by the queen's * own choice 
without any competitor or mediator.' Burgh- 
ley was ill pleasea by Elizabeth's independent 
action, but the popular verdict was highly fa- 
vourable to the appointment. * I think no man,' 
wrote Reynolds to Essex, * ever came to this 
dignity with more applause than this worthy 
gentleman ' (Birch, Afemoirs, i. 479). Eger- 
ton was made at the same time a pnvy coun- 
cillor, and continued to hold the mastership 
of the rolls till 18 May 1603. Elizabeth con- 
sulted him repeatedly in matters of home and 
foreign policy. In 1598 he was a commis- 
sioner for treating with the Dutch, and in 
1600 was similarly employed with Denmark. 
As lord keeper he delivered the queen's mes- 
sages to parliament, and announced her tem- 
rirising decision respectiiu^ monopolies on 
Feb. 1597-8. In November 1601 he came 
into collision with the speaker of the House 
of Commons on a small question of procedure, 
and was compelled to withdraw from the 
P|06ition that he first took up. His considera- 
tion for deserving young barristers is illus- 
trated by the invariable kindness which he 

TOL. xvu. 



showed to Francis Bacon, who acknowledged 
his 'fatherly care' when writing of him in 
1596. In 1606 Egerton worked hard to se- 
cure the attorney-generalship for Bacon, but 
although he met with no success, his openly 
displayed patronage was of assistance to 
Bacon at tne bar. 

Egerton made the acquaintance of the Earl 
of Essex [see Dbverbux, Robert, 1567- 
1601] soon after coming to court, and in spite 
of the disparity in their ages a warm friend- 
ship sprang up between them. * They love 
and join very honourably together,' wrote 
Anthony Bacon to Dr. Hawkins (Birch, 
ii. 146). Egerton was one of the few coun- 
cillors who witnessed the famous scene in 
the council, in July 1598, when Essex in- 
sulted the ^ueen and she boxed his ears. 
Afterwards m well-reasoned letters Egerton 
earnestly urged upon Essex the obvious pru- 
dence of a humole apology to Elizabeth. 
While Essex was in Ireland in the autumn of 
1599, Egerton sent the earl a timely warning 
that his policy was exciting susmcion and dis- 
satisfaction at home. When Essex arrived 
home without leave, he was committed to the 
custody of the lord keeper on 1 Oct. 1599, 
and lived in York House, the lord keeper's 
official residence, till 5 July 1600. A month 
earlier he was broug"ht before a specially con- 
stituted court, meeting in York House, over 
which Egerton presided, and was then de- 
prived of all his offices. On the morning of 
Sunday, 8 Feb. 1600-1, the day fixed by Essex 
for his rebellion, Egerton, with three other 
officers of state, went to Essex's house to re- 
quest an explanation of his suspicious con- 
Quct. They were allowed to enter, and cries 
of * Ball them' were raised by Essex's armed 
supporters. Essex led them to a back room, 
and locked the door upon them. They were 
released at four o'cIock in the afternoon, after 
six hours' detention, when the failure of 
Essex's rebellion was known. Egerton took 
a prominent part in Essex's trial on 19 Feb. 
1600-1. 

The queen's confidence in her lord keeper 
increased with her years. He was an active 
member of all special commissions. From 
31 July to 8 Aug. 1602 he entertained the 
queen at enormous expense for three days at 
his house at Harefield, Middlesex (Egerton 
Papers, 340-57). He had bought this estate 
of Sir Edmund Anderson in 1601. With 
James I Egerton was soon on equallv good 
terms. On 26 March 1603, two days after the 
queen's death, the Earl of Northumberland 
aeclared that the privy councillors had no 
authority to act in the interr^num, and 
that the old nobility should fill their places. 
Egerton acquiesced so £Eur as to suggest that 



Egerton 



162 



Egerton 



privy councillors who were not peers should 
surrender their 8eat« at the head of the coun- 
cil table to those councillors who were. On 
6 April 1603 James, while still in Scotland, 
reapx)ointed Egerton lord keeper, and Egerton 
met the king on his journey into England at 
Broxboume on 3 May. Sixteen days later he 
resigned the office of master of the rolls to 
Edward Bruce, lord Kinross. On 19 July, 
when he received from the king the new great 
seal, he was made Baron Ellesmere, and on the 
24th lord chancellor. Ellesmere proved sub- 
servient to James. He adopted James's hos- 
tile attitude to the puritans at the Hampton 
Court conference in 1604, and declared that 
the king's speech then first taught him the 
meaning of the phrase, ' Rex est mixta per- 
sona cum sacerdote.* On 9 Feb. 1604-5 he 
expressed resentment at a petition from North- 
amptonshire demanding the restitution of de- 
prived puritan ministers, and obtained from 
the Star-chamber a declaration that the de- 
privation was lawful, and the presentation of 
the petition unlawful. Three days later he 
directed the judges to enforce the penal laws 
against the catholics. Ellesmere helped to 
determine the Act of Union of England and 
Scotland in 1606 and 1607. In June 1608 a 
case of great importance affecting the relations 
between the two countries was decided by the 
chancellor and twelve judges in the exchequer 
chambers. Doubts had arisen as to the status 
in England of Scottish persons bom after the 
accession of James I. Those bom before the 
accession (the 'antenati') were acknowledged 
to be aliens. The 'postnati' claimed to be 
naturalised subjects and capable of holding 
land in England. Land had been purchased 
in Englandinl607 on behalf of Robert Colvill 
or Colvin, a grandson of Lord Colvill of Cul- 
ross, who was bom in Edinburgh in 1605. 
A legal question arose, and the plea that the 
child was an alien and incapable of holding 
land in England was raised. Ellesmere de- 
cided that this plea was bad, and that the 
child was a natural-bom subject of the king 
of England. Twelve of the fourteen judges 
concurred, and Ellesmere treated the two 
dissentients with scant courtesy. This judg- 
ment, the most important that Ellesmere de- 
livered, was printed by order of the king in 
1609. 

In May 1613 Ellesmere took a prominent 
part in committing Whitelocke to the Tower 
for indirectly questioning the royal preroga- 
tive by denying the powers of the earl mar- 
shal's court ; in July 1615 Ellesmere declined 
to pass the pardon which Somerset had drawn 
up for himsplf, with the aid of Sir Robert 
Cotton ; in September 1615 he made recom- 
mendations in the council for stifling opposi- 



tion in the next parliament, and acted as 
high steward at the trial of the Earl and 
Countess of Somerset for the murder of Over- 
bury in May 1616. In the struggle between 
the courts of equity and common law ini- 
tiated by Coke, Ellesmere successfully main- 
tained tne supremacy of his own court. When 
the king appealed to Ellesmere as to points 
of law involved in his well-known dispute 
with Coke in June 1616, Ellesmere obtained 
from Bacon a legal opinion against Coke, 
which he adopted. On 18 Nov. 1616, when 
administering the oaths to Sir Henry Monta- 
gue, Coke's successor as lord chief justice, he 
warned the new judge against following the 
example of his predecessor. 

On 7 Nov. 1616 Ellesmere, whose health 
was rapidly failing, was promoted to the title 
of Viscount Bra<5dey, which Coke's friends 
and his enemies miscalled ' Break-law.' As 
early as 1613 he had pressed his resignation 
on the king on account of increasing in- 
firmities ; but it was not till 3 March 1616-17 
that James I allowed him to retire, and even 
then it was stipulated that his release from 
office should, imless his health grew worse, 
only continue for two years. Egerton was 
at the time lying ill at York House, and the 
king arranged the matter while paying him a 
visit. As a reward of faithful service James 
promised him an earldom. Twelve days later 
(15 March) Egerton died. He was buried at 
Dodleston, Cheshire, on 5 ApriL His only 
surviving son John [a. v.] was created Earl 
of Bridge water on 27 May following. 'Bacon 
asserted that it was by Ellesmere's own wish 
that he succeeded Ltim as lord chancellor. 
Ellesmere was chancellor of Oxford Univer- 
sity from 1610 till 24 Jan. 1616-17. He is 
said to have been the first chancellor since the 
Reformation who employed a chaplain in his 
family. Dr. John Williams [q. v. J lived with 
him in that capacity for many years, and Dr. 
John Donne [q. v.] was also at one time a 
member of his nousehold. The foundations of 
the great library at Bridgewater House were 
laid by the chancellor ; some of the books came 
to him through his third wife, the Dowager 
Countess of Derby, who as Alice Spencer 
and Lady Strange was a well-known patron 
of Elizabethan literature (Collier, Cat, of 
Bridgewater House Library, 1857, pref. ; 
Masson, Life of Milton, i. 554-61). 

Egerton married first. Elizabeth, daughter 
of Thomas Ravenscroft, esq., of Bretton, 
Flintshire ; secondly, Elizabeth, sist«r of Sir 
(Jeorge More of Loseby, and widow both of 
John Polstead of Abury and of Sir John 
WoUey ; and thirdly, in 1600, Alice, daughter 
of Sir John Spencer of Althorpe, and widow 
of Ferdinando, fifth earl of Derby. By his 



Egerton 



163 



first wife lie n-as fatlier of two bods and a 
daughter. The youn^r eaa John ia sepa- 
rately noticed. The elder sonThomaa went the 
islands' vovag-e in 1597; waa then knighted; 
was baron of the exchmuer of Cheshire 
from 1596 ; was killed in Ireland in August 
1599, and was buried in Chester CathMral 
37 Sept. He married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Thomas VenablesofKinderton, CheBnire,b7 
whom he had three daughters. The chan- 
cellor's daughter Mary waa wife of Sir Francis 
LeighofNewnhamRegia, 'Warwickshire. £1- 
lesmere had no issue by his second and third 
wives. His tliird wife, whose daughter mar- 
ried her stepson, John Egerton , 'long a urvived 
him, and continued to live at Harefield, where 
in 1634 Milton produced his 'Arcades.' 

Egerton was nif^ly esteemed by his con- 
temjMjraries. Sir George Paule, in his ' Life 
of Whitgirt,'1612, mentions him as 'a loving, 
faithful friend to the archbishop in all hia 
A&airs,' ' a lover of learning, and most con- 
t favourer of the clergy and church go- 
iment estahlighed,' Camden mentions an 
anagram on his name, ' Oestat Honorem,' and 
gives unstinted praise to the whole of his 
career. Haeket, Fuller.and AnthonyiWood 
are equally enthusiastic. Sir John Savies 
credits him with all the choract eristics of on 
ideal chancellor, and paid a compliment to 1 
hia literary taste by dedicating hia ' Orches- 
tra' to him. (The dedicatory sonnet ia in | 
manuscript in a co^y of the volume at Bridge- 
water House, and is not printed in tha ordi- | 
nary editions.) Although always dignified , 
in his bearing on the bench. Bacon aacribee | 

epoken to suitors in hia court, 
rable presence is said to have drawn many 
spectators to his court, 'in order to see and 
admire him ' (Fclleb). Literary men praised 
him lavishly. Ben Jonson wrote three epi- 
graiaa in his honour, Samuel Daniel an epistle 
in verse, and Joshua Svlveater a sonnet. 

EOeamcre published nothing eicept hia 
judgment in the case of the ' postnati ' in Col- 
rin's caHO. He left to hia chaplain Williams 
manuscript treatises on the royal preroga- 
tive, the privileges of parliament, proceedinga 
inchancery.andthe power of the Star-cham- 
ber. Williams owed, according to his biogra- 
pher, wbntever success he achieved as lord 



Ph . 

Keeper to his diligent study of thoaa pap 
(Hacket, Zi/e of WiltUuru, op. 30-1). Wil- 
liiims afterwards presented them to James I. 
Blacitstone refers to the treatise on the Star- 
chamber in his ' Commentaries,' iv. 267 j it 
is now in the British Museum Harl. MS. 
12->6. In 16il ' The Privaedges of Pre- 
rogative of the High Court of ChanceTr' 
was issued as a work of Ellesmere. Of the 



other two manuscript treatises nothing ia 
now known. It is highly doubtful whetner 
' Obsen-ations concerning the Office of Lord 
Chancellor,' 1651, and ' Lord Chancellor Eger- 
ton's Observations on Lord Coke's Reports,' 
edited by O. Paule about 1710, have any 
claim to rank as Elleemere'a productions, al- 
though they have been repeatedly treated as 
genuine. Engraved portraits bySimon Pass 
and Hole are extant. 



Xippii's Biog. Brit. It was repriutiid separatsly 
in 1793,aiidvitbvarioaaBdditioa8iQl79S, ISOl, 
1812. and 1S3B. The Egerton Papers, edited 
by 3It. J. F. Collier, and published by the Camden 
Soe. ia 1840, contain a number of the chancellor's 
official papers preeerred at Bridgeirater House. 
In the Miscellany of the Abbotafbrd Club, i. 219- 
22s, are six of Ellesmere's letters, three to James I 
and three to John Murray; nthen appear in 
Cabala. See also Foss's Jodges, ri. 136-S2; 
CAmpbell's Lives of the Lord ChanceUore, ii. 1 71- 
201; Dngdale'a Baronage, ii.lU; Xiehols'e Pro- 
gresses of Elizabeth and James I; Oaidiner's 
Hist, of England ; Colline'e Peerage, ii. 225-32 ; 
Birch's Memoirs; I5pedding's Life of BaeoQ; 
Chauncy'a HertfordaiiirG ; Clatterbnck's Hert- 
fordshire; Ormerod's Cheshire; Cal. State Pa- 
pers (Domestic), 1581-1817.] S. L. L. 

EQQ, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD (1816- 

1863), subject painter, was the Bon of Egg tha 
well-known gunmaker in Piccadilly, where he 
wasbomon2Mayl816. Having mastered tha 
first elements in drawing under Henry Sass, in 
Charlotte Street, Bloomsbut7,he obtained ad- 
mission as a student into the Ro^al Academy 
in 1836, and appeared as an exhibitor first in 
that institution in 1838, where he eihibil«d 
' A Spanish Girl.' This was followed by 
' Laugh when vou can ' in 1639, and a scene 
from ' Henry IV' in 1840. But his first work 
of importance, ' The Victim,' was exhibited at 
Liverpool, and subsequently was engraved in 
the ' Oems of European Art.' He also con- 
tributed for many years to the SocieW of 
BritishArtistsinSuffolkStreet. Hesufiered 
from a weak constitution, and during a jour- 
ney in Africa, undertaken for the benefit of 
hia health, he died at Algiers on 26 March 
1863, and was buried there. Eggwaselected 
an associate of the Itoyal Academy in 1848, 
and an academician in 1860, in which year 
he painted a scene from the 'Taming of 
the Shrew.' His portrait by Frith, enmved 
by J. Smyth, appeared in the ' Art Union 
Monthly JoumaV of 1847, p. 812. Works 
of his best quality are : ' Queen Elizabeth 
discovers she ia no longer young' (1848') j 
' Peter the Great sees Katherine for the 
first time ' (1860) ; ' The Life and Death of 



Egglesfield 



164 



Eginton 



Buckingham * (1865) ; scenes from ' Esmond * 
(1857-8); a triptych of the *Fate of a 
Faithless Wife' (1858); and *The Night 
before Naseby' (1859). In the National 
GaUeiy there is a canvas, ' Scene from Le 
DiableBoiteux'(1844). 

[Redgrave's Diet, of Artists ; Otrley's Diet, 
of Becent and Lining Painters and Engravers ; 
Art Union (1847), p. 312.] L. F. 

EGGLESFIELD, ROBERT. [SeeEGLES- 

PIELD.] 

EGINTON, FRANCIS (1737-1805), 
painter on glass, grandson of the rector of 
Eckington in Worcestershire, was taught the 
trade of an enameller at Bilston. Asa young 
man he was employed by Matthew Boulton 
[q. v.] in the Sono works. In 1764 Eginton 
was employed as a decorator of japanned 
wares, but did much work in moaelling. 
During the next few years Boulton brought 
together a number of able artists at Soho, in- 
cluding Flaxman and Wyatt ; and Eginton 
rapidly became a skilful worker in almost 
every department of decorati ve art. Eginton 
was a partner with Boulton in the production 
of ' mechanical paintinffs.' The hint for these 
was in all probability taken by Boulton from a 
process modified by Robert Laurie [q. v.^from 
Le Prince's 'aquatint' engravings. Eginton 
perfected the method and applied it to the 
production of coloured copies of paintings, 
sometimes called * polygraphs.' More plates 
than one were required for each picture, 
and aft«r leaving the printing-press Eginton 
finished them by hand. They were copies 
from Loutherbourg, Angelica KauiFmann, and 
other artists, and varied in price from 1/. 10*. 
to 21/. The largest were forty inches by 
fifty. They were sometimes taken for original 
paintings. Not many years ago some of them 
were pronounced by two artists to be * oil- 
paintings of much merit,' and their real cha- 
racter was not discovered till a cleaner re- 
moved the varnish. These old * polygraphs ' 
were in fact nearly identical with the var- 
nished coloured lithographs (oleographs) of 
the present day, the main difference being 
that the latter are printed from stones. Mr. 
(afterwards Sir) F. P. Smith, then of the 
Patent Museum, maintained, in a paper read 
before the Photographic Society of London in 
1863, that some of them preserved at South 
Kensington were photographs of early date. 
The claim is quite untenable. Thomas Wedg- 
wood [q. v.] had indeed made experiments 
upon copying pictures by the action of light 
upon nitrate of silver ; out the results then 
obtained would be alto^ther incapable of 
producing pictures of their size and character. 
The claim in various forms is often repeated 



on behalf of the scientific circle of Birming- 
ham, but the matter was really settled by 
a series of pamphlets written by M. P. "W. 
Boulton (grandson of Boulton) in 1863-5, 
in which he gives an account of the whole 
matter. Mr. Vincent Brooks, an eminent 
lithographer, produced an exact imitation of 
the ' ground ' of one of the examples exhibited 
at South Kensington by taking an impression 
from an aquatint engraved plate on paper 
used for transfer lithography. 

The * picture branch ' of Boulton's business 
was discontinued as unprofitable, the loss on 
this and the japanning trade being over 500/. 
for 1 780. The partnership between Eginton 
and Boulton was dissolved. Lord Dartmouth 
proposed to grant Eginton a government 
pension of 20/. a year, but the project was 
privately opposed by Boulton, and it was 
consequently abandoned. For the next year 
or two Eginton appears to have continued to 
work at Soho, and to have begun in 1781 to 
stain and paint upon glass. In 1784 he left 
Soho and set up in business for liimself at 
Prospect Hill House, which stood just oppo- 
site Soho, and was not taken down till 1871. 

The art of glass-painting had fallen into 
complete disuse. Eginton revived it and 
issued from his Birmingham factory a long 
series of works in sta,ined glass. His first 
work of consequence was the arms of the 
knights of the Garter for two Gothic windows 
in the stalls in St. George's Chapel, Windsor; 
and among other works were the east win- 
dow of Wanstead Church, the arc hi episcopal 
chapel at Armagh,the Bishop of Derry's palace, 
Salisbury Cathedral (east and west windows, 
and ten mosaic windows), Lichfield Cathe- 
dral (east window), Babworth Church, Not- 
tingham, Aston Church, Shuckburgh Church, 
the ante-chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
&c. In the banqueting room of Arundel Castle 
there is a fine window by Eginton (20 ft. by 
10 ft.) representing Solomon and the Queen 
of Sheba. He also did much work at Fonthill, 
including thirty-two figures of kings, knights, 
&c., and many windows, for which Beckford 
paid him 12,000/. Eginton sent much of his 
painted glass abroad, and some of his finest 
work is believed to be in Amsterdam. In 
1791 he completed what was then considered 
his masterpiece, the ' Conversion of St. Paul,' 
for the east window of St. Paul's Church, Bir- 
mingham, for which he received the * very 
inadequate sum of four hundred guineas.' 
Eginton works were, in fact, transparencies 
on glass. He was obliged to render opaque a 
large portion of his glass, and thus missea the 
characteristic beauty of the old windows. 
Eginton's showroom was seen by all distin- 
guished visitors of Birmingham. Nelson, ac- 



Eginton 



^^5 



Eglesfield 



companied by Sir W. and Lady Hamilton' 
called there on 29 Aug. 1802. 

Eginton died on 26 March 1805, and was 
buried in Old Ilandsworth churchyard. His 
daughter married Henry Wyatt, the painter; 
his son, William Raphael Eginton, succeeded 
to his father's business, and in 1816 received 
the appointment of ^lass-stainer to Princess 
Charlotte. His brother, John Eginton, was 
celebrated as an engraver in stipple. 

[Birmingham Daily Post, 25 April 1871, by 
W. C. Aitken, reprinted in pamphlet form ; Gent. 
Mag. 1805, pt. i. pp. 387, 482 ; J. H. Powell in 
Timmins's Midland Hardware District, 1865; 
the archaeological section of the Birmingham 
and Midland Institute possesses a photograph 
of Prospect Hill House ; G. Wallis on Supposed 
Photography at Soho in 1777, Art Journal, 1866, 
pp. 251, 269; Nagler's Kiinstler-Lexikon, 1837; 
Smiles's Lives of the Engineers, * Boulton ' and 

* Watt,' 1878 ; Dent's Old and New Birmingham, 
1880.] W. J. H. 

EGINTON, FRANCIS (1775-1823), en- 
graver, son of John Eginton, celebrated as an 
engraver of stipple, and nephew of Francis 
Eginton [q. v.], was bom in Birmingham in 
1775, and died in 1823 at Meertown House, 
near Newport, Shropshire, aged 48. Egin- 
ton's work as an engraver was distinguished 
by accuracy and taste. He illustrated Shaw's 

* Staffordshire,' Price's ' Histories of Here- 
ford and Leominster,' "NVheler's * History of 
Stratford-on-Avon,' Bissett's * Picturesque 
Birmingham Guide,' Pratt's 'Leamington 
Guide,' Howell's * Shrewsbury,' and most of 
the topographical and historical works pub- 
lished in the midlands during his time. A 
large plate of Pont-y-Cyssyllte aqueduct 
was one of his most notable works. Per- 
sonally I^ginton is described as a 'cheer- 
ful and gentlemanly companion, and much 
respected.' 

[Birmingham Gazette, October 1823 ; Gent. 
Mag. 1824, pt. i. p. 94.] W. J. H. 

EGLESFIELD, ROBERT of (d, 1349), 
founder of the Queen's College, Oxford, was 
the son of John of Eglesfield and Beatrice 
his wife, and grandson of Thomas of Egles- 
field and Hawisia his wife (Statutes of 
Queen^s CoUege, p. 7). He was presumablv 
a native of Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth 
in Cumberland, and is said to have been a 
bachelor of divinity of Oxford. He became 
chaplain to Queen Philippa and rector of 
Burgh, or Brough, under Stainmore in West- 
moreland. He bought some buildings in the 
parish of St. Peter-in-the-East, Oxford, in 
order to provide lodging for students in the 
universitv, and for this purpose obtained a 
charter from Edward ni, dated 18 Jan. 



1340-1, which established the 'Hall of the 
Queen's Scholars of Oxford' (Rymer, JFb?- 
dera, ii. 1144, Record ed.) In the statutes 
which Eglesfield issued on 10 Feb. following 
f not March, as Mr. Maxwell Lyte gives the 
aate), he jprovided for the appointment of a 
provost, Richard of Retteford, S.T.P. T Wood 
says, of Balliol College), and twelve lellows 
or scholars — the names are used indifferently 
— who were to devote themselves to the 
study of theology and the canon law, and to 
enter holy orders. After the first nominees, 
the fellows were to be chosen by preference 
from the counties of Cumberlana and West- 
moreland, and must already have taken a 
degree in arts. The scheme included further 
the maintenance of a number, not to exceed 
seventy, of poor boys who should receive in- 
struction in the hall; as well as the per- 
formance of regular religious offices and the 
distribution of alms. The foundation was 
placed under the protection of the queen- 
consort and her successors as patrons, and of 
the archbishop of York as visitor. 

Eglesfield seems to have thenceforth re- 
sided in Oxford, and is known to have taken 
his ' commons ' with the fellows in the hall 
he had himself founded. He died on 31 May 
1349, and was buried, according to the ordi- 
nance in his statutes, in the college chapel ; 
Browne Willis (ap. Wood, p. 164) states that 
his grave was under the altar ; but the brass 
effigy which was long believed to be his has 
been found to belong to some one else, and the 
chapel itself was rebuilt on a different site early 
in tbe eighteenth century. A small casket, 
however, supposed to contain the founder's 
remains, was removed, probably at the time, 
from under the old altar to the present chapel ; 
and such a casket was seen in the crypt by a 
college servant, who is still (1888) living, at 
the burial of Provost Collinsonin 1827. Egles- 
field bore, argent, three eagles displayed, two 
and one, gules ; which are still the arms of the 
Queen's College. The founder's seal spells the 
name Eglefeld. His drinking horn, which is 
of uncommon size and beauty, is st ill preserved 
in the college. It is figured in Skelton's 
' Oxonia Antiqua Restaurata,' plate 42 (see 
also p. 30), 2nd ed. 1843. 

There was a Robert de Eglesfeld who had a 
grant made to him of the manor of Ravenwyke 
or Renwick, 1 Edw. Ill, which manor was 
subsequently given to Queen's College by the 
founder (see Hutchinson, Hist, of Cumber^ 
land, i. 212, 1794). Next year, 1328, Robert 
de Eglefield was elected knight of the shire 
for Cumberland {Parliamentary Accounts and 
Papers^ 1878, xvii. 1 ; Members of Parliament , 
p. 83). It is therefore possible that the founder 
entered holy orders late in life ; for if there 



Egley i66 Eglisham 

•were two Robert Efflesfields, it is difficult able notice of James VI by the Marquis of 
to understand why the second is not named, Hamilton, who said at the time that Egli- 
where several are named, in the statutes of the sham's father was the best friend he ever had* 
college, especially since it was through this He was brought up with Hamilton's son 
lay Lglesneld that it acquired the manor of (afterwards second marquis, d, 1625), who 
Bavenwyke. as long as he lived remained his friend and 
[The charter and statutes of the Queen's patron. He was sent abroad and studied at 
College are printed among the Statutes of the Leyden, where he probably obtained his M.D. 
Colleges of Oxford, 1863. See also Anthony a degree. While there he engaged in a one- 
Wood's History and Antiquities of the University sided controversy with Conrad V orst, whom 
of Oxford, ed. Gutch, Colleges and Halls, pp. he accused of atheism, and published ^ Hypo- 
138-41 ; Dean Burgon's notice in H. Shaw's Arms crisis Apologeticfe Orationis Vorstiante, cum 
of the Colleges of Oxford, 1855 ; and Mr. H. T. secundaprovocationeadConradum Vorstium 
Biley's report printed.in Hist. MSS. Comm., 2nd missa ; auctore Geo. Eglisemmio, Scot. Phil. 
Eep., appendix. The writer is indebted for seve- et Medico Vorstium iterato Atheismi, Eth- 
ral valuable facts and references to the kmdness neismi, Judaismi, Turcismi, hfereseos schis- 
of the Rev. J. R. Magrath. DD provost of matietignorantifieapudiUustrissimosordines 




pp. 147-63, 1886.1 R. L. P. * EgHsham obtained leave from the authorities 

at Leyden to invite vorst to a public dis- 

EGLEY, Wn.LI AM (1798-1870), minia- cussion, but Vorst declined to take up the 

ture painter, was bom at Doncaster in 1798. challenge. Returning to Scotland, Eglisham 

Shortly after the boy's birth his father re- was appointed one of the king's personal 

moved to Nottingham, and became confi- physicians in 1616, and continued to receive 

dential agent to the Walkers of Eastwood, many tokens of favour from James, who, ac- 

The gift of a box of colours which William cording to Eglisham, 'daily augmented them 

received in early youth strengthened his de- in writ, in deed ; and accompanied them with 

sire to bo a painter. But the father destined gifts, patents, offices' (Frodromus Vtndicta). 

both him and his brother Thomas for the But of these honours no record remains. In 

trade of bookselling. They were received into 1618 Eglisham published * Duellum poeticum 

the house of Darton, the publisher, Holborn contendentibus G. Efflisemmio medico regio^ 

Hill, London ; but while Thomas pursued et G. Buchanano, regio preceptore pro digni- 

this calling to the end of his life, VVilliam, tate paraphraseos Psalmi civ/ In an elabo- 

by chance visits to the exhibitions in Somcr- rate dedication to the king he undertook to 

set House, cultivated and stimulated his love prove that Buchanan, who died in 1582, had 

of painting. Without any professional teach- been guilty of * impiety towards God, per- 




hy the Koyal Academy m 1824. From that question, which he printed in full, with his 

time until the year before his death he was own translation opposite. Included in the 

a constant exhibitor, sending in all to the volume are a number of the author's short 

Eoyal Academy 160 miniatures, to the British Latin poems and epigrams. Eglisham vainly 

Institution two pictures, and to the Suffolk appealed to the university of Paris to decido 

Street Gallery six. lie was very successful that Buchanan's version was inferior. He 

in portraying children, with whom his ge- succeeded in attracting notice to himself, and 

nialtenmer made him a great favourite. He drew from his colleague Arthur Johnston a 

died in London on 19 March 1870, aged 72. mock * Consilium collegii medici Parisiensis 

He was twice happilv married, and by his de mania G. Eglishemii,' a Latin elegiac 

first wife left a son, William Maw Egley, poem republished as ' Hypermorus Medi- 

who is a painter of historical subjects and a caster ; ' and from his friend William Barclay 

regular exhibitor. a serious judgment on the question at issue^ 

[Art Journal, 1870, p. 303 ; Graves's Diet, of which he decided strongly m favour of Bu- 

Artists, p. 76.] R. H. chanan. Eglishamfurther published in 1626 

EGLINTON, Earm of. [See Most- 'Prodrojuus Vindictw,' a ramplilet in which 

OOMERiE and Sctos.I he openly accused the Dute or Buckingham 

-' of having caused the deaths, by poison, of 

EGLISHAM, GEORGE, M.D. (Jl, 1612- the Marq^uis of Hamilton and the late king,. 

1642), a Scotch physician and poet, was in- and petitioned Charles I and the parliament 

troduced at the age of three to the favour- severally to have the duke put on his triaL 



Egmont 



267 



Eineon 



A German translation appeared the same year, 
but the earliest English edition known of 
the 'Forerunner of Revenge' bears date 
1642, though a letter of the period (C«/. of 
State Papers, Dom. 1025-6, n. 337) mentions 
the work as an English publication, 20 May 
1626. Proceedings were instituted i^ainst 
Eglisham and his assistants, but the lormer 
had retired to Brussels, where he remained 
for some years, perhaps till his death, the date 
and place of which are imknown. He was 
apparently still alive in 1642. Another letter 
(tb. 1627-8, p. 192) says that for some years 
Dr. Eglisham had an only companion at bed 
and board in Captain Herriot, a mere mounte- 
bank, adding that ^ they coined doublepistolets 
together, and yet both unhanged.' Eglisham 
married Elizabeth Downes on 13 Sept. 1617 
« in the Clink,' and had a daughter (&. 1629- 
1631, p. 168). 



[Eglisham's works as above.] 



A.V. 



EGMONT, Eabm of. [See Pebcival.] 

EGREMONT, Babok and Eabl op. [See 
Wtndham.] 

EHRET, GEORG DIONYSIUS (1710- 
1770), botanic draughtsman, bom at Erfurt 
9 Sept. 1710, was the son of Georg Ehret, 
gardener to the Prince of Baden, Durlach. 
He received little education, but as a boy 
began to draw the plants in the fine garden 
which his father cultivated. Dr. Trew of 
Nuremberg first made him aware of his talent 
by buying the first five hundred drawing he 
had made for four thousand gulden. With 
this sum in hand he started on his travels, 
but his store was soon exhausted, imtil at 
Basel he had to call his art into play for his 
support. Having refilled his purse, he jour- 
neyed by Montpellier, Lyons, Paris (where 
he was employed by Bernard de Jussieu), 
England, and the Netherlands. Here he fell 
in with Linnaeus, who came to live with the 
Dutch banker Cliffort at Hartecamp, near 
Haarlem, and Ehret contributed the draw- 
ings which illustrated the fine folio published 
bv Linnaeus as * Hortus Cliffbrtianus,' 1737. 
Ehret profited by Linnseus's advice to pay 
more attention to the minute parts of the 
flower, and they continued on friendly terms 
until Ehret's death. About 1740 he again 
came to England, finding among his patrons 
the Duchess of Portland, Dr. ^Iead, and Sir 
Hans Sloane. Among the books he illus- 
trated were Browne's * Jamaica,' 1766, and 
Ellis's * Corallines,' 1755, at that time con- 
sidered plants. His chief published works 
were 'PlantaB selectee,' 1750, ten decades, and 
' Plantse et Papiliones selecta),' Lond., 1748- 
1750. He married Susanna Kennett of Glid- 



ding, near Hambledon, Sussex, and died at 
Chelsea 9 Sept. 1770, leaving one son, G^eorge 
Philip, who died October 1786 at Watford, 
Hertfordshire. 

Many of Ehret's drawings came into the 
possession of Sir Joseph Banks, and are now 
in the botanical department of the British 
Museum at Cromwell Road ; they bear ample 
testimony to his free yet accurate draughts- 
manship. Some manuscripts of his are also 
preserved there 

The genus JShretia was so named in com- 
pliment by Patrick Browne, and adopted by 
Linnaeus. 

[Pulteney's Sketches, ii. 284-93; Nagler's 
Neues allg. Kunstler-Lexikon, iv. 91 ; Nouv. Biog. 
G^n. XV. 751; Proc. Linn. Soc. (1883-6), pp. 42- 
56.] B. D. J. 

EINEON (J. 1093), Welsh prince and 
warrior, son of CoUwyn, played a great part 
in the famous legend of the conquest of Gla- 
morgan bv the Normans. His father and his 
elder brotner Cedivor seem to have been imder- 
kings in succession of Dyved or of some part 
of it. In 1092 Cedivor died {Bruty Tywy- 
gogion, s. a. 1089, but cf. Fbeeman, William 
Itufus, ii. 78). His son Llewelyn and his 
brothers {B, y T.), his sons according to 
another account {Annales Camf>ri€By s.a.l089), 
rose in revolt against Rhvs ap Tewdwr, the 
chief king of South Wales, but were over- 
thrown by him at Llandydoch. These discords 
gave easy facilities to the Norman marchers 
to extend their conquests in Wales. Next 
year Rhys was slain hy the French of Brech- 
einioy. The conquests of Dyved and Ceredi- 
gion immediately followed. Thus far the his- 
tory is authentic, but Eineon's name does not 
specifically appear in it. The legend now be- 
gins. Eineon, the brother of Cedivor, fled 
from the triumph of Rhys at Llandydoch to 
lestin, son of Gwrgan, 'prince of Morganwg, 
who was also a reoel against Rhys. Now 
Eineon had been previously in England, had 
served the king in France and other lands, 
and knew well both William himself and his 
great barons. He proposed to lestin to bring 
his Norman friends to the latter's help on con- 
dition of his receiving as his wife the daughter 
of lestin and as her portion the lordship of 
Miscin. lestin accepted the proposal. Eineon 
visited his English friends at London. He 
persuaded Robert Fitz-Hamon, whom we 
Know in history as lord of the honour of 
Gloucester, and twelve other knights to 
bring a great army to the aid of lestin. Rhys 
was slain by them in a terrible battle near the 
boundaries of Brecheiniog, at Hirwaun Gwr- 
gan. With Rhys fell the kingdom of South 
Wales. The Normans, having done their work 



Eineon 



i68 



Ekins 



for lestin, received their pay and returned ' 
towards London. They had hardly departed 
when lestin, flushed with his triumph, trear 
cherously refused Eineon his daudbter'shand. 
Eineon pursued the retreating Frenchmen, 
explained to them his own wrongs and the 

general unpopularity of lestin, and showed 
ow easy it would be for them to conquer 
lestin's dominions, since his treason to Rhys 
had so much disgusted the South-Wales 
princes that not one would afford him suc- 
cour. The Normans were easily persuaded. 
Eineon meanwhile organised a Welsh revolt. 
Theyjointly spoiled lestin and Morganwg, but 
thersormans took the rich vale for their own 
share and left Eineon only the mountains of 
Sen^henydd and Miscin, while the sons of 
lestm were rewarded for their acquiescence 
in their father's fate by the lowland lordship 
of Aberavon. Induced by the victory of Fitz- 
Hamon, other Normans seized upon Dyved, 
Ceredigion, Brecheiuiog. Thus the treachery 
of Eineon put all South Wales into the hands 
of the foreigner. 

This full and elaborate story is first found 
in the * Brut y Tywysogion,' first printed in 
the second volume oif the * Myvyrian Archaio- 
logy,' and afterwards with a translation by 
Mr. Aneurin Owen for the Cambrian Archaeo- 
logical Association in 1803. But the original 
manuscript of this *Brut' is believed not to 
be older than the middle of the sixteenth 
century, and therefore not much earlier than 
PoweVs 'History of Cambria' (1584), in 
which the story of the conquest of Glamorgan 
also appears at length, varying from the above 
account in only a few details. There are here 
added, however, long pedigrees of the de- 
scendants of the * twelve knights,' and most 
critical inquirers have agreed that the fertile 
invention of the pedigree-makers for Glamor- 
ganshire families is the original source of the 
legend. But there must be some nucleus of 
truth and some ancient basis for the inven- 
tors to have worked upon, for the conquest of 
Glamorgan is undoubtedly historical, though 
there is no direct account of it in any earlier 
authority. There is nothing in itself impro- 
bable in the story of Eineon, though there are 
slips in detail. If he had such great connec- 
tions, why did he not use them to save his 
native Dyved from Khys's assault ? Ilhys, too, 
was undoubtedly slain by Bernard ot Neuf- 
march^ and the conquerors of Brecheiniog. 
Moreover it is absura to suppose that after 
doing their work the Normans would have 
gone home again or needed Eineon's sugges- 
tion to turn their attention to the conquest 
of Morganwg. Obviously the expansion of 
the Norman arms from Gloucester into Mor- 
ganwg was as natural as that of the expan- 



sion of the Shrewsbury earldom into Powys. 
But the quarreb and invitations of local 
princes were here, as in Ireland, a determin- 
ing cause of their action ; and Eineon's part 
in the conquest is too probable and typical 
for us lightly to reject the whole of his 
history. Some Welsh families profess to 
be descended from Eineon (Lewys Dwnx, 
Heraldic Visitations of Wales, i. 29, Welsh 
MSS. Soc. ; for a full list see Clarke, Lim- 
bus Patrum Morganus^ p. 131 et seq.) 

[Brut y Tywysogion, pp. 68-76 (Cambrian 
Ai^seological Association); Powels History of 
Cambria, pp. 119-27, ed. 1684, with the com- 
ments of Mr. G. T. Clark in his first paper on 
the 'Land of Morgan' in xxxiv. 11-39 of the 
Archseological Journal, and subsequently re- 
printed separately with the other papers on the 
same subject, and those of Professor Freeman 
in William Rufus. ii. 79-82, 613-16, note oo; 
cf. Norman Conquest, v. 820.] T. F. T. 

EKINS, SiRCHARLES(1768-185o),ad- 
miral, son of Dr. Jeffery Ekins [q. v.], dean of 
Carlisle (1782-91), and nephew of I)r. John 
Ekins, dean of Salisbury (1768-1809), was 
bom in 1768, presumably at Quainton, feuck- 
inghamshire, of which parish his father was 
then rector. He entered the navy in March 
1 781 , on board the Brunswick of 74 guns,under 
the command of the Hon. Keith Stewart. 
In the Brunswick he w^as present in the ac- 
tion on the Doggerbank on 5 Aug. 1781, and 
afterwards went with Captain Stewart to the 
Cambridge, which was one of the fleet under 
Lord Howe that relieved Gibraltar in 1782. 
After continuous service on the Mediterra- 
nean and home stations for the next eight 
years, he was promoted to the rank of lieu- 
tenant on 20 Oct. 1790. During the next 
five years he was mainly employed in the 
West Indies. Early in 1795 he came home 
in the Boyne of 98 guns, bearing the flag 
of Sir John Jervis, and was in her when 
she was burnt at Spithead on 1 ^lay. On 
18 June he was promoted to the command 
of the Ferret sloop in the North Sea, from 
which he was appointed to the Echo, sup- 
posed to be at tne Cape of Good Hope, but 
found, on his arrival, to have been condemned 
and broken up. He returned to England in 
command of one of the Dutch prizes taken 
in Saldanha Bay, and was advanced to post 
rank 22 Dec. 1796. In August 1797 he was 
appointed to the Amphitrite frigate, and in 
her was actively employed in the West Indies 
till March 1801, when, after a severe attack 
of yellow fever, he was sent home with des- 
patches. From 1804 to 1806 he commanded 
the IWulieu frigate ; and from 1806 to 1811 
the Defence of 74 guns, in which he took 
part in the expedition against Copenhagen 



Ekins 



169 



Eld 



in 1807, in the operations on the coast of 
Portugal in 180S, and in the Baltic cruise 
of 1809. In September 1815 he commissioned 
the Superb of 78 guns, and commanded her 
in the bombardment of Algiers, on 27 Aug. 
1816, when he was wounded. He afterwards, 
together with the other captains engaged, 
was nominated a companion of the Bath, and 
by the king of the Netherlands a knight of the 
orderofWilliamoftheNetherlands(C.W.N.) 
The Superb was paid off in October 1818, and 
Ekins had no further service afloat ; though 
he became in course of seniority rear-admiral 
on 12 Aug. 1819, vice-admiral 22 July 1880, 
and admiral 23 Nov. 1841 ; and was made a 
K.C.B. on 8 June 1831, a G.C.B. on 7 April 
1862. He died in London on 2 July 1866. 
He married, in 1800, a daughter of T. Parlby 
of Stonehall, Devonshire. 

Ekins was the author of * Naval Battles 
of Great Britain from the Accession of the 
illustrious House of Hanover to the Battle 
of Navarin reviewed ' (4to, 1824 ; 2nd edit. 
1828) ; an interesting and useful work, though 
its value is lessened by the introduction of 
much hearsay criticism and by the total want 
of all reference to foreign authorities. The 
diagrams, too, drawn from the official des- 
patches, which are generally vague and fre- 
quently inaccurate, are often more remarkable 
for the fancy than for the correctness of their 
delineations. He wrote also a pamphlet on 
the round stem controversy in the form of a 
letter to Sir Robert Seppings (8vo, 20 pp. 
1824). 

[Marshall's Boy. Nav. Biog. ii. (vol. i. pt. ii.) 
764; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Diet.; Gent. Mag. 
(1855), new ser. xliv. 316.] J. K. L. 

EKINS, JEFFERY, D.D. (d. 1791), dean 
of Carlisle, was a native of Barton-Seagrave, 
Northamptonshire, of which parish his mther, 
the Rev. Jeffery Ekins, M.A., was rector. 
He received his education at Eton, whence 
in 1749 he was elected to King^s College, 
Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship 
(Welch, Aiumni Eton. p. 338). He gra- 
duated B.A. in 1766 and M.A. in 1768 {Can- 
tabriffietises Graduaii, 1787, p. 129). On 
leaving the universitv he became one of the 
assistant-masters of l^Aon school, where he 
was tutor to Frederick Howard, earl of Carlisle 
(Jesse, G, Seltcyn and ^m Contemporaries^ 
iii. 220). Subsequently he was chaplain to 
the Earl of Carlisle when lord-lieut«nant of 
Ireland. He was inducted to the rectory of 
Quainton, Buckinghamshire, 30 March 1/61, 
on the presentation of his father (Lipscomb, 
Bucks, 1. 422). In 1776, resigning Quainton, 
he was instituted to the rectory of Morpeth, 
Northumberland, on the presentation of the 



Earl of Carlisle ; in February 1777 he was 
instituted to the rectory of Sedgefield, Dur- 
ham; in 1781 he was created D.D. at Cam- 
brid^ ; and in 1782 he was installed dean of 
Carlisle, on the advancement of Dr. Thomas 
Percv to the see of Dromore TLb Neve, Fasti^ 
ed. Hardy, iii. 248). He aied at Parson's 
Green on 20 Nov. 1791, and was buried in 
Fulham Church. 

He married in 1766 Anne, daughter of 
Philip Baker, esq. of Colston, Wiltshire, and 
sister of the wife of his brother, John Ekins, 
dean of Salisbury. His son. Admiral Sir 
Charles Ekins, is separately noticed. 

His works are : 1. * Florio ; or the Pursuit 
of Happiness,' a drama, manuscript. 2. A 
manuscript poem upon ' Dreams,' which had 
great merit. 3. ' The Loves of Medea and 
Jason ; a poem in three books translated 
from the Greek of ApoUonius Rhodius*s Ar- 
gonautics,' London, 1771, 4to, 2nd edit. 1772, 
8vo. 4. * Poems,' London, 1810, 8vo, pp. 134, 
including the preceding work and a number 
of * Miscellaneous Pieces.' Only sixty copies 
were printed of this collection (Martin, 
Privately Printed Books, 2nd edit. p. 190). 

In earlv life he was the most intimate com- 
panion ot Richard Cumberland, who says of 
him : * Mjr friend Jeffery was in my family, 
as I was in his, an inmate ever welcome ; his 
genius was ^uick and brilliant, his temper 
sweet, and his nature mild and gentle in the 
extreme: I lived with him as a brother; we 
never had the slightest jar ; nor can I recol- 
lect a moment in our lives that ever gave 
occasion of offence to either' {Memoirs, i. 124). 

[Faulkner's Fulham, pp. 74, 75, 802 ; Hodg- 
son s Northumberlaod, \ol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 394, 
I 527; Gent. Mag. vol. bti. pt. ii. pp. 1070, 1239, 
1240, vol. Ixxxiii. pt. i. p. 657 ,* Nicholses lllustr. 
of Lit. viii. 191, 267 ; Lempriere's Univ. Biog. ; 
Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus. ; Lysons's 
Environs, ii. 369, 393 ; Addit. MS. 5868, f. 19 6.1 

T. C. 

ELCHIES, Lord. [See Grant, Patrick, 
1690-1754.] 

ELD, GEORGE (1791-1802), antiquary, 
was bom in Coventry in 1791. He carried 
on business successively as a miller, a silk 
dealer, and a dyer ; he was also for twenty 
years editor of the * Coventry Standard.' He 
was the last mayor of Coventry (1834-6) 
before the passing of the Municipal Reform 
Act, and, besides filling other public offices, 
an alderman of the reformed corporation till 
his death. During his mayoralty he restored 
the interior of the mayoresses parlour — an 
architectural relic of the fourteentn century — 
and throughout his life he rendered valuable 
service in preserving and stimulating public 
appreciation of the antiquities of his native 



Elder 



170 



Elder 



city. He had considerable ability as an artist, 
and made many fine drawings of ancient build- 
ings and other memorials of the past. He died 
at Coventry on 22 May 1862, in his seventy- 
first year. 

[Gent. Mag. November 1862.] J. M. S. 

ELDER, CHARLES (1821-18ol), pain- 
ter, gained some success as an historical and 

g)rtrait painter. He first exhibited at the 
ritish Institution in 1844, to which he sent 
* Noli me tangere,' and at the Academy in 
1845, sending * Sappho.' He was a frequent 
contributor to the exhibitions, among his 
works being 'Florimel' (Royal Academy, 
1846'), * The Death of Mark Antony* (Royal 
Academy, 1847), 'Rosalind ' (Royal Academy, 
1850), 'Jael* (British Institution, 1850). 
Elder died 11 Dec. 1851, aged 30, leaving a 
widow and three children. Two of his pic- 
tures were exhibited at the Royal Academy 
in the following year, viz. ' On the Thames 
near Twickenham' and 'An Italian Fruit 
Girl.' Among the portraits painted by him 
were those of the Marquis of jbristol and Mr. 
Sheriff Nicol. 

[Redgrave's Diet, of Artists ; Graves's Diet, of 
Artists, 1760-1880; Geut. Mag. 1862, new ser. 
xxxvii. 210, 312 ; Catalogues of the Royal Aca^ 
demy and other exhibitions.] L. C. 

ELDER, EDWARD (1812-1858), head- 
master of Charterhouse School, the son of 
John Edward Elder of Barbadoes, was bom 
on 1 Oct. 1812. At the age of twelve he was 
sent to Charterhouse, where he remained 
till 1830, when he gained an open scholar- 
ship at Balliol College, Oxford. There he 
took first class honours in Uteris hwmanioribus 
and won the Ellerton theological essay prize. 
He graduated B.A. 1834, M.A. 1836, D.D. 
1853. lie held a tutorial appointment at 
Balliol till 1839, when he oecame head- 
master of Durham Cathedral grammar school. 
This school, which he found in a languishing 
condition, he may be said to have made. So 
great was his success as a teacher and his 

Popularity among his pupils, that when in 
853, on the nomination of Dr. Saunders to 
the deanery of Peterborough, he was ap- 
pointed head-master of Charterhouse, many 
of the Durham boys, among them Professor 
Nettleship, migrated to London with him. 
At Charterhouse he worked no less hard 
than at Durham, but ho was prevented from 
giving full scope to his abilities by occa- 
sional attacks of illness, which necessitated 
his absence from the school. Latterly his 
mind altogether gave way. On 6 April 1858 
he died. A tablet to his memory was placed 
by some of his friends and pupils in Charter- 



house Chapel, immediately facing the foun- 
der's tomb. Beyond contributing several 
articles to Smith's * Dictionary of Classical 
Biography and Mythology,' Elder published 
notning. 

[List of Carthusians, 1879; Haig-Brown's 
Charterhouse, Past and Present, 1879, p. 156 ; 
Times 9 April 1858; information kindly supplied 
by Dr. Haig-Brown and Canon Elwin.] 

A. V. 

ELDER, JOHN (/. 1555), Scotch writer, 
a native of Caithness, passed twelve years of 
his life at the universities of St. Andrews, 
Aberdeen, and Glasgow, and appears to have 
entered the ministry. He came to England 
soon after the death of James V of Scotland 
in 1542, when he presented to Henry VIII 
a ' plot ' or map of the realm of Scotland, 
being a description of all the chief towns, 
castles, and abbeys in each county and shire, 
with the situation of the principal isles. In 
an accompanying letter to Henry, Elder is 
very severe on David Beaton, denouncing 
him as the pestiferous cardinal, and his bishops 
as blind and ignorant ; in the subscription he 
styles himself clerk and a * redshank,' mean- 
ing by the latter designation, it is supposed, 
*a roughfooted Scot or highlander.* This 
letter, which is now preserved in the British 
Museum, Royal MS. 18, A. xxxviii., was 
printed in vol. i. of the Bannatyne Club 
* Miscellany.' In the Record Office is another 
letter by Elder addressed to Mr. Secretary 
Paget, and dated from Newcastle, 6 Oct. 
1545. It gives an account of the opera- 
tions of the army under the command of the 
Earl of Hertford in the invasion of Scotland 
between 8 and 23 Sept. 1545, minutely de- 
tailing their daily proceedings, with a list 
of the towns burnt each day {Cal. State 
Papers f Scottish Ser., i. 57). At Mary's 
accession Elder turned Roman catholic, as 
appears from his letter addressed to Robert 
Stuart, bishop of Caithness, * from the Citio 
of London . . . the first ... of January, 
1555,' which was published as * The Copi